I wish I could remember where I heard it and who said it, but in one discussion about Inglourious Basterds someone remarked that in an age of Hollywood remakes Quentin Tarantino has done something no one else would ever have the guts to do; he re-made World War II. And, if we’re being honest, he did make it better. Because, well, SPOILER WARNING!!!! Hitler dies at the hands of a Jew. Okay, two Jews if we’re being accurate, and that’s the way it should have happened. In fact, let me just go ahead and say, spoilers for the entire film, but, really, you can’t spoil this movie.
Tarantino took some flak from critics claiming he painted the Nazis in a sympathetic light, in some cases even endearing the audience to the character (but definitely not his cause). After seeing it I could see where those people came away with that, but, they’re wrong.
Quite possibly for the first time in film (at least in a studio film), the Nazis are treated as humans, not monsters. They are given backgrounds, families, children, lives outside of their inhumane actions, and in the case of Private Zoeller, they’re even painted as heroes; and they were. Human that is, not heroes. But, Tarantino doesn’t do this to make them sympathetic, or at least, I don’t think he does. Instead, I think, it’s to show that they were people that made a choice. They were people that willingly followed an insane man trying to wipe out an entire group of people. Giving them human characteristics just makes that choice much harder to swallow, and in turn makes their inevitable deaths in this film all the more necessary. It’s hard to really hate and despise someone if you can’t first identify with them on a human level.
There are two great examples, the first being the aforementioned Private Zoeller. A good looking young man, he’s set to become the German equivalent of Audie Murphy, starring in a movie about himself. He defended his station from a slew of allied forces, alone. It’s an impressive feat, even for a villain. He becomes smitten with a beautiful theatre owner in France, Shoshanna (though, she’s using a different name because, well, she’s secretly Jewish!) and arranges for his films premiere to happen there. Shoshanna uses this (and him) to exact her revenge on the Nazis for the genocide of her people. Zoeller’s wooing of her is very sweet, even if it is a bit forceful, and if this were a war/romance flick all would be well. But, because it isn’t, and because Zoeller does come off as genuine in his affection for Shoshanna, her betrayal of his trust does sting. It’s supposed to. Nazis fall in love too, and dude gets his heart broken. Sucks for him, but he’s a NAZI, so, he has to die. In fact, their romance plays out like some kind of insane (more insane?) version of Romeo and Juliet. And I’m okay with that.
The second has to do with a newborn baby named Max. Wilhelm is a Corporal on leave for the day to celebrate the birth of his son Max, unfortunately he and his Nazi buddies chose the wrong tavern to celebrate in. When a meet up between German spy/actress Bridget von Hammersmark and her Allied contacts goes awry (that’s putting it mildly, it’s one of the most intense scenes I’ve ever witnessed in a film), Wilhelm is the only one left standing, until Bridget reveals she’s also alive. The scene paints him to be a proud pappa, and after the shootout he makes a deal with Aldo and the Basterds to trade the life of the injured von Hammersmark for his own. Aldo comes down to retrieve her, and as Willie drops his gun in a show of good faith, von Hammersmark pulls a pistol of her own and guns him down in cold blood. She doesn’t care that he has a newborn son, or a wife, because he’s a NAZI, and for that he has to die. Again, I’m okay with that.
There’s another, more prominent Nazi character in the film, the one performance EVERYONE is talking about, and that’s Colnel Hanz Landau, played…I’m tempted to type brilliantly here, but that word does not do Christoph Waltz justice at all. He is perhaps the most charismatic on-screen villian since Hannibal Lecter. Yes, I just said a Nazi was charismatic, get over it, because he is. No, you can’t “root” for him like you can Lecter, or say Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis’ character from There Will Be Blood), and that’s precisely BECAUSE he’s a Nazi, of course. But, the man is just so…well, I don’t think there’s another word for it. Alluring maybe? Magnetic? Anyway, at the end of the film, and I won’t give away his story at all, you don’t want him to die. He’s far to big of a character to die, and so, he doesn’t. He meets a fitting end, but death is honestly too easy for him, he deserves something more poetic, and that’s what he gets.
Now, I haven’t said much of anything about the title characters of the film. Really, though, there’s not much to comment about. Pitt has had his fair share of criticism for his over-the-top portrayal of Lieutenant Aldo Raine, but I fall on the side of the amused in that argument. For the film to work, for the Basterds to work as characters, Raine has to be a caricature. You can’t have someone nicknamed “The Bear Jew” beating Nazis to death with a baseball bat and have him being led around by a mild-mannered Southern boy. It wouldn’t work. And, while we’re on the subject of “The Bear Jew,” it might be the only thing in the film that doesn’t really work for me. I get it, it’s funny, but I just didn’ like it that much. But, it could be because I have a dislike of Eli Roth to begin with. Hugo Stiglitz however, is another story. Played by Til Schweiger, Stiglitz is one more Tarantino character that likely carries a wallet branded with the initials B.M.F. There could have been an entire separate film about the awesomeness that is Hugo Stiglitz and I probably would have smiled the entire length of its running time. Hugo Stiglitz is the freaking man.
There’s a lot to be analyzed and discussed here, I haven’t even covered a fraction of it. You could teach an entire semester of film school just on this movie alone. And, I do want to say a little something about the direction and the script though, so, indulge me a bit longer.
I’ve been championing The Hurt Locker since first seeing it several months ago. I’ve said more than once it deserves every award it gets nominated for, and, while I’ll be perfectly fine with Kathryn Bigelow’s film winning anything, I’m now convinced that Inglourious Basterds is the better film. I’ve seen it three times in the last few weeks, and it holds up. It’s one of the most intense experiences I’ve ever had watching a film. I’ve never been the biggest Tarantino fan, but there’s no arguing the man writes some of the best dialogue ever scripted, maybe THE best, and this is no exception. But, I don’t think he’s ever been someone I’d call a master of suspense or intensity. I suppose Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs have their moments, but those are brief at best. The opening to Pulp Fiction immediately comes to mind, with Jules and Vincent in Brett’s apartment. But, again, it’s very brief. In Inglourious Basterds the tension is unnerving. There are scenes, not just one or two, we’re talking ten or twelve, maybe more, where the hair on the back of my neck is standing up. Scenes where it literally feels like my heart stops beating in fear of what I know is coming next. And that’s after multiple viewings.
The score/soundtrack is a huge help in that department. I’m probably about to say something completely wrong, but I don’t believe there was a single piece of original music scored or written for the film. In fact, a lot of it comes from other movies, primarily war films and spaghetti westerns, the two biggest influences Tarantino had for this movie. There are a few tracks from composer Ennio Morricone, who’ s famous for his work with Italian director Sergio Leone (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly). If fact, Leone used to have Morricone compose piece of music, then he would stage the shots around that music, playing it as they filmed to set the tone of the scene. A practice that worked surprisingly well, and I get a sense that that’s the kind of thing Tarantino did here. Pitt claims Tarantino shot most of Basterds in sequential order, a practice I believe Leone was fond of as well.
That this movie has garnered more award nominations than any of Tarantino’s other works comes as no surprise to me. Again, I’ve seen it three times and it’s still very effective. My heart continues to break for Shoshanna and I still wince when Donny swings that bat into a German skull. Aldo the Apache makes me laugh every time he opens his mouth and Hugo Stiglitz makes me want to run out and join a revolution. I adore almost every thing about this movie. It’s a love letter to cinema, all of it; comedy, drama, action, suspense, it’s all here. So much so, that when Brad Pitt (in lieu of Tarantino) leans down into the camera for the final shot of the film and says “I think this just might be my masterpiece” I’m inclined to agree with him.
