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Inglourious Basterds: The Jewel in Tarantino’s Crown…
22/11/20092009 has been quite a slow year for Hollywood. Up until five minutes ago I would have said that Star Trek was the best film of the year. However, the reasons that dictate its brilliance has almost nothing to do with raw cinematography.
Inglourious Basterds is a smorgasbord for any lover of film, especially those who have followed Tarantino’s work in the past. The scene with the SS officer in the bar was quite possibly one of the most suspenseful. It brought back much memories of Samuel Jackson reciting from Revelations in Pulp Fiction. The sudden jump from an intellectual dissection on the part of the SS officer to ‘guns blazing’ action is also quite similar to the “I love you too Hunny Bunny!” intro to Pulp Fiction, although far less subtle.
The first scene in the film is also quite powerful, where Col. Landa describes how one tends to naturally give a rat a rather cold greeting – simply because it is a rat. This was his sick justification for the German hate of Jews.
By the end of the film, however, we get to witness a ‘Jewish’ retribution as it were with the Germans initially (and Hitler in particular) quite ecstatic with the depiction of much allied dead on screen. In an instant, this is a stark contrast against the brutal massacre of much of the German high command and all the occupants of the cinema.
Many believe Tarantino wanted to blur the line between “good” and “evil” while some simply say he’s even tried to erase it. The Basterd’s themselves, as the film was considered, considered them as good guys – yet they did unspeakable things to Nazis.
The shining performance that made the firm for me, at least, was by Christopher Waltz portraying Col. Landa. Of course, his efforts would be in vain if it also wasn’t for Melanie Laurent’s portrayal of Ms. Dreyfus. While Pitt seemed to have mastered his Tennessee accent, at times he did not seem completely convincing.
It is an extremely powerful and exhilarating movie that is paced incredibly well. While Kill Bill as a whole was a tribute to bushido culture of film, and is still one of his best work, Inglourious could very well be his masterpiece.
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