Inglourious Basterds is not like every other war movie. Infamous director and nut Quentin Tarentino has seemingly done it again, paying tribute to another genre in a fresh way. As a matter of fact, Tarentino utilizes this movie to display a completely new way of looking at war films, and really, all films.
But first, a brief synopsis. There’s this whole Nazi takeover thing in
As with any Tarentino film, essays could be written about the maybes and possible intentions of their near-psychotic director. Basterds is no different.
In every WW2 movie, and in fact every war movie, there is the good (American) side and the bad (any other country) side. This formula, when discussed, almost seems hackneyed and utterly boring. Basterds changes everything. There is no good guy in Basterds. Every single party and organization in the movie is dirtied, cunning and ruthless. The Basterds, the Nazis, even the Jew hiding in Vichy Paris are all villains; there is not one single hero in this movie. Tarentino conjectures in this film that it is impossible to be a decent man in indecent times.
And thus the title. My compatriot, after seeing the movie with me, was curious why it was titled after the Jewish American squad, whereas their storyline only takes up perhaps 1/3 of the movie. Clearly the title is a catchall—the Americans, the Nazis, and this darkhearted Jew—all believe incorrectly their actions are for glory and good. But they’re not. They’re only bastards.
I’ll take this moment to talk to Tarentino fans. Rest assured, this movie has every single stylistic Tarentino effect exaggerated to the nth degree. Long, casual, at-first-glance insignificant conversations inhabit the movie. A David Bowie song plays at a very inappropriate time. Aldo Raine’s Nazi carving seems to pay a small tribute to the “ear scene” in Reservoir Dogs. There are intentionally cheesy effects, such as a Real World style arrow system to point out the “Big Four” of Nazi Germany in a crowd. The film takes a break for five minutes halfway through to explain how combustible old film reels were. There is a “Mexican standoff,” and even a conversation about what constitutes a Mexican standoff. There’s a lot of color symbolism, especially towards the end in the cinema. The sick bastard even finds a way to fit in voice-overs of Sam Jackson and (unbeknownst to only me, who has seen too many Tarentino films too many times already) Harvey Keitel. And rest assured, there is a Sam Jackson in Pulp Fiction-style chorus spoken by Aldo Raine.
If you’re planning to see this movie, I’ve constructed a few pointers so you know what to expect, in case you’ve never seen a Tarentino film.
1) Basterds is not historically accurate. Obviously I can’t give away anything major, but the Basterds never existed and their contributions to the war as seen in the movie are too major to be anywhere close to historically accurate.
2) Don’t take the movie too seriously. Along with the historical issues just stated, Tarentino has this way through cheesy 80s effects and music, as well as long, casual conversations at seemingly tense and pivotal moments, to offer up some humor to keep viewers from even considering this is a drama.
3) Prepare to read a lot of subtitles. If this isn’t your thing, beware. The subtitle thing goes a little deeper though. Sometimes while characters are speaking foreign languages, there are no subtitles at all. Also, at some points words like Monsieur will be translated to Mister, but other times will be implanted as Monsieur. I caught this a few times, and whether it’s an intended or not, it’s hard to say.
I have a hard time recommending or not recommending this movie, because it’s very dense. I know when I walked out of the theatre, I thought it was more Jackie Brown and less Reservoir Dogs; it seemed like a bit of a misnomer. However, after thinking about it and having conversations with people who loved it and other people who hated it, I think I’ve come to my conclusion. I did, in fact, really enjoy this movie, and it’s dripping with the style that I do so love in Tarentino films. The acting was superb, the characters were great, the direction was excellent, and the effects were tip-top, making this one more of Tarentino’s monolithic contributions to American cinema. Bravo.
