Inglourious Basterds

Starring: Brad Pitt, Christophe Waltz, Melanie Laurent, Diane Kruger, Daniel Bruhl, Eli Roth, BJ Novak, Til Schweiger

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Genre: War

More revenge fantasy than war epic, Tarantino's peppery pot of violence and intrigue is ab-fab fun for anyone who grew up on the cheapo European-made war movies of the 70s.

Release Date: 22-Oct-2009

URL: http://www.inglouriousbasterds-movie.com/

Language: English

Distributor: United International Pictures

Synopsis:

While a squad of elite, scalp-taking Jewish commandos wreaks havoc on German morale in occupied Europe, one young woman plots to exact a terrible revenge on the Nazi high command.

My Comment:

Inglourious Basterds struck a chord in me, and I say this not to sound hip and pro-Tarantino but because I grew up watching so many of the cheapo war "epics" that are referenced, sampled, caricatured and paid tribute to here.

Many an afternoon was spent in the darkened halls of the Cathay, Ruby, Federal and other cinemas watching folks like John (Gianni) Garko, Klaus Kinski, Fred Williamson, Bo Svenson (the last two being original Inglorious Bastards), Frederick Stafford, Helmut Berger, Daniela Bianchi, Sylva Koscina and Edwige Fenech in an orgy of burning kisses and blazing Schmeissers.

They weren't just Inglorious Bastards, either. They were 5 For Hell, Dirty Heroes and Suicide Commandos going From Hell to Victory - all shining examples of the "macaroni combat" sub-genre, by and large so bad that they can only be remembered with fondness.

Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds brought all those memories flooding back for me, only with the added benefit of polished filmmaking to gloss over the relentlessly talky bits, and the over-the-top acting here being deliberate rather than unfortunate.

Be forewarned that it's more revenge fantasy than WW2 action epic. The pacing is slow and deliberate, periodically erupting in short, sharp spurts of violence, winding up the tension until the final orgy (that word again!) of fire and hot lead.

RED REVENGE: 'I'm such a badass femme, the director used a song from Cat People just for me.'

It starts off quietly, with a protracted conversation between an SS Colonel (Waltz, simply brilliant) and a French farmer. The seemingly mundane dialogue, embellished with subtly menacing tones and gestures, builds towards a sudden act of evil that sets in motion the events which will bring so many of the players in this happy roadshow to its fiery finale.

Then we have the Basterds, whose exploits unfortunately take place mostly off-screen and in flashback (a nod, perhaps, to those macaroni combat flicks' lack of budget and cast numbers).

Led by Lt Aldo Raine (a howlariously OTT Pitt), they are Jewish-American soldiers dropped behind enemy lines for one purpose only: to kill Nazis. And no, neither the movie nor its characters seem in any hurry to make the distinction.

Those they kill, they scalp. Those they let live, they carve a swastika onto their foreheads so the whole world will know what they were even after they burn their uniforms when the war's over.

FRIGHT CLUB: 'And by the time ah'm through with yuh, y'all gonna be able to smirk as smugly as this.'

The Basterds, a revengeful Jewish survivor named Shosanna (Laurent, speaking volumes with her wonderfully expressive eyes), a half-arsed British covert operation orchestrated by a forefather of Austin Powers, and Colonel Landa's complexity all come crashing together after a series of neatly orchestrated (but messy) events.

In this case, the payoff is well worth putting up with the leisurely pacing, the circuitous dialogue, the larger-than-life characters and their exaggerated mannerisms. Pay close attention and you will find a lot to like along the way – it's both journey and destination that are rewarding.

And lest all this talk fool you into expecting any fuzzy warm moments, let me stress that this is not a movie about nice people.

A shame that one of my favourite not-nice people, Til Schweiger's squinty-eyed cauldron of repressed rage named Hugo Stiglitz, is not on-screen nearly enough. Oh well, we've still got Waltz's multifaceted Colonel Landa, Laurent's single-minded angel of vengeance and so many other characters and moments to savour.

JEW GOTTA BE KIDDING: 'I wonder, is this one of those hard pipes that my friend Marsellus Wallace was talking about?'

The good thing here is that, while the script doesn't bother to note that "Nazi" was just an unfortunate subset of "German", the so-called villains are given much more than mere one-dimensional treatment. Besides Landa, you'll want to take a proper gander at the egomaniacal Joseph Goebbels (Sylvester Groth) and Fredrick Zoller (Bruhl), an accomplished sniper and war hero who becomes the unwitting linchpin in Shosanna's sinister plot.

Time and repeated viewings will tell if this can achieve the iconic status of Pulp Fiction, but I'm sure the journey to that point will be quite rewarding in itself. Meaning, I'm up for another fun trip with the Basterds – anyone else game?

Surfing: http://www.inglouriousbasterds-movie.com/

Making The Grade: