Inglourious Basterds

I don’t know if I got the spelling right, but I am quite certain I like the movie much.

This is no attempt to review the film. These are just thoughts that came to mind during and after watching the film. My general impression was that I felt like reading a book. Probably that’s how much I appreciated the story. Usually, in films, I feel that this and that are missing, which is understandable due to limited time. But in books, there is hardly an excuse for an incomplete book, even open-ended films or a book from a series is complete—if it is a good book.

Inglourious Basterds presents an alternative universe where the Nazis are the hunted and involves intertwining plots that would keep your attention to the screen, to say the least. It has a cast of good actors and a talented director, Quentin Tarantino.

Warning: spoilers. Click on more if you want to proceed.

On the protagonists

In an interview, I heard Brad Pitt saying that he enjoyed playing the role of Lt. Aldo Rain as much as Johnny Depp enjoyed being Jack Sparrow. I think Brad Pitt is a fine actor. Lt. Rain leads a motley group of Jewish-Americans whose task is to inflict terror among the Nazis. How? Kill Nazis and scalp them, literally. Lt. Rain required all 8 Basterds to bring him 100 scalps each. He also has a “tradition” of carving swastika marks of Nazis he allows to leave, to spread the stories of the cruelty of The Basterds.

What I like more about the film is that it does not revolve around Lt. Rain. If I hadn’t known that Brad Pitt is a superstar, I wouldn’t say he is the lead actor of this film. In fact, there is no more or no less exposure of each protagonist as needed. In such a way, no character steals attention from the setting and the plot. But you can still attribute to them their unique character.

Adding up to webs in the story is the vengeful stance of Shosanna Dreyfus, the Jewish girl who managed to survive the massacre of his family and successfully assumed a new identity and eventually owned a new cinema—the place where all events would culminate. I was satisfied with actress Mélanie Laurent who played the part of Shosanna. You can see this woman full of hate toward Nazis who resolved to be strong to survive. Yet, in all her façade of strong personality, you know that she died along with her family on the day of the massacre. She is consumed with anger, and when she found the opportunity to vent all her anger and vengeance, she not once hesitated.

On the antagonists

From the first chapter to the last, the imposing presence of Colonel Hans Landa cannot be ignored. Christoph Waltz did justice to the character, and a very challenging one at that. He is a Jew hunter, tasked to find and kill all hiding Jews in Nazi-occupied France. Whenever I tried to fill in the shoes of the people he is speaking to, I can imagine myself trembling. No, this is not because he threatens with menacing words, nor shows aggressive behavior. What is more terrifying is that you know that he can kill you anytime, anywhere, and yet he acts courteous and gracious. No, he has no intention to conceal his true person; instead, it seems like a mockery of people’s fear toward him. And you don’t know how to act in front of him. Would you accept his graciousness and hope that he never turns into the monster that he is, or would you just cut the crap and face the real McCoy? For me, Landa is the most compelling character of the story, not to mention the most unforgettable.

On the plot

Bravo on the plot. I like how each angle built up and how all accumulated into the final event. There is this military group, The Basterds, who would stop at nothing to defeat the Nazis or to end the war. These are a bunch of fearless men with varying personalities: from Sgt. Donny Donowitz (played by Eli Roth), feared by Nazis as Bear Jew, who hits Nazis with powerful swings of his baseball bat on the head, to Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz (played by Til Schweiger), a quiet “lunatic” German-born Basterd infamous for brutal killings. The Basterds are determined to carry out Operation Kino, the operation that might end the war.

There is this young lady, Shosanna who, with her helper and lover, made a devious plan of creating a raging inferno to kill all in attendance, including Hitler and 3 other top officials, at a premiere night in her cinema. The two planned the suicide task with resoluteness, never fearing the end of their own lives. In fact, they seemed to enjoy plotting the German massacre.

There is this German double agent actress Bridget von Hammersmark (played by Diane Kruger) whose role is material to the successful implementation of Operation Kino. She knows fully well how to “manipulate” the German officials, enticed by her beauty and star status. How she handles situations with quick thinking and coolness are interesting scenes in the story. You would ask yourself how she’d be able to pull herself (and The Basterds) out of a difficult situation. She is a brilliant and scheming woman.

As the film continues, each subplot also continues to climax, not one overemphasized over the others. Noteworthy is that all throughout the film, The Basterds and Shosanna never knew of each other’s plans and never met, not to mention having different motives—one is political and racial, one is revenge.

Final thoughts

More than the good actors and a plot that appeals to my taste, I like the element of restraint. Even after the gory scenes of scalping and carving swastika marks, there is still restraint. You know that The Basterds hated the Nazis, but you will not see how much they hated them, at least not on how they talk to them. In fact, humorous scenes are injected into the film. Rage and anger never seemed to go out of control and turn the film into an “I hate Nazis” propaganda. I believe that, even in literature, when you lose restraint, you lose the art.

The film is not for the faint-hearted. There are many slicing of skin and blood spilling. Many of The Basterds died, making it more believable. It would be unbelievable if they were that successful, with no one dying. Even the German actress died, strangled to death on floor tiles. Really, there is nothing you would expect. There are jaw-dropping scenes, wherein there is a delayed acceptance that what happened really happened.

Overall, the film is great! My kind of film. =)