August 2009
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Inglourious Basterds (18)
Posted 17th August 2009

Once Upon A Time... In Nazi-Occupied France, factual history was rewritten in favour of a fantastical alternate fictitious history by the pulp culture writer/director of our generation Quentin Tarantino. For better or worse (and opinion is going to be very divided), this is not WWII as you know it. Instead it’s WWII as filtered through QT’s warped mind, ears and eyes.

The film’s (basic) plot is broken down into five easy-to-describe chapters. Chapter One: Shosanna (Mélanie Laurent) narrowly escapes the execution of her entire family. Chapter Two: enter the Inglourious Basterds. Chapter Three: plot development. Shosanna owns an independent cinema that operates a German night. The next will see the world premiere of Goebbels latest production, Nation’s Pride (fantastic faux film-within-a-film directed by Eli Roth). Chapter Four: “Operation Kino” sees the Basterds join with British Forces to plot to bomb the premiere. Chapter Five: fates converge on premiere night.

However there is so much going on in each individual chapter that they could easily be embellished to compose their own individual feature-length films. Its little wonder Tarantino originally envisioned this magnum opus as a TV mini-series (please do this Quent, expand upon this universe and give each set of characters their fully deserved worth. Especially the Basterds. Would be so wicked to see their mission in its entirety). Chapter One: it’s the first year of Nazi-occupation in France. Famed “Jew Hunter” Col. Hans Lander (Christoph Waltz) pays a visit to Perrier LaPadite (Denis Menochet) to discuss the whereabouts of a family of missing Jews. The tense interrogation results in the only way how, but teenager Shosanna escapes the execution to fight another day. Chapter Two: enter the Inglourious Basterds, a crack team of US soldiers led by Aldo “the Apache” Raine (Brad Pitt) with one mission to cause as much damage, physical and psychological, to the Nazi forces as possible deep behind enemy lines. Chapter Three: Shosanna now owns and runs an independent cinema. After a chance encounter with war hero Fredrick Zoller (Daniel Brühl) and a nerve-racking reunion with Lander, her cinema is chosen to host the latest Goebbels (Sylvester Groth) film premiere. Chapter Four: plans come together. Discovering the leaders of The Third Reich will be at this premiere, British Forces put into play “Operation Kino” under the command of Archie Hicox (Michael Fassbender) and with collaboration from undercover agent Bridget von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger) as well as the re-tasked Basterds. Its mission: the SS go boom-boom during the screening of Nation’s Pride. Meanwhile, Shosanna plans a revenge on the Nazi’s all of her own. Chapter Five: the cinema marquis-set finale, as the plot-strands come together in one humdinger of a dénouement.

The shortest two and a half hour film you will ever see, the chaptered structure (and the level of interest inherent in each one) means that this epically-lengthed “men on a mission” marathon flies by faster than a speeding bullet from a German Luger. A talky, talky, talky character portmanteau, Basterds avoids all the usual WWII war movie clichés, instead putting the typical Tarantino twist on an otherwise well-worn genre. Very much made up of characters sitting and standing around conversing, rather than blowing the hell out of each other in giant battle scenes, this is less inspired by its 70s exploitation namesake and The Dirty Dozen than you might have been led to believe. But then since when did QT adhere to expectation? Of course when the sporadic action does occur (either of the gun or scalping variety) it is swift and brutal and bloody and graphic and gory. Just what you want from the man made mincemeat out of Marvin’s mush and gushing blood geysers out of the Crazy 88’s.

Populated by what can only be described as Tarantinoesque cool characters, real and fictitious figures interact seamlessly together through history as this skewed story unfolds. Naturellement Hitler (Martin Wuttke) crops up, as do the rest of his SS goons. Keep your eye out for Churchill (Rod Taylor) as well though too. Brought-to-life through uniformly superb performances, it’s difficult to pick a standout from the multi-lingual International cast. The unknown (at least in non-German film buff circles) Waltz is a real find though as the hilariously camp but chillingly calculating and cruel Nazi “Jew Hunter”. This is basically your Best Actor performance of the year, so you might as well give the man all of the awards now. All of ‘em. Just etch his name on the little trophies ready for presentation. ‘Cos nothing will even come close. Equally good as Waltz is Mélanie Laurent as sole survivor Shosanna. The reunion scene between the two displays some of the most wonderfully-reserved acting from any actress in quite some time. Her barely contained equal parts disgust and fear are so palpable, you might just find yourself holding your own breath all the way through the scene along with her. Of course you can’t fail to mention Pitt’s turn as Aldo “The Apache” either. Tarantino has described how he couldn’t imagine anyone else in the role and after seeing Pitt losing himself in the Kentucky-fried character you won’t be able to either. Special praise should also be reserved for Menochet’s slight turn as the put-upon Lapadite in the opening Spaghetti Western-influenced Chapter. Once again, this is very fine work indeed.

As difficult as it is to pick a standout actor amongst the ensemble (despite a select few being mentioned, everyone here is on awards-select form), so too is it difficult to single out one “best bit” unmissable scene. However, with a threatening baseball bat to the head, the one everybody will most memorably recall has to be the central “La Louisiane” café scene as Hicox covertly meets with Bridget to discuss the details of the plan. A masterfully written and acted scene of nail-biting tension and possibilities, you never really know which way this one’s going to go as a German SS Officer gets suspicious of their activities. It’s arguably the best scene of Tarantino’s career so far, from one that is littered with best of’s (the breakfast diner Virgin discussion in Reservoir Dogs / the gold watch tale in Pulp Fiction / the multi-perspective money exchange in Jackie Brown / the House of Blue Leaves in Kill Bill: Vol. 1 / The Bride faces off with Bill – Superman speech – in Kill Bill: Vol. 2 / the white-knuckle “ship’s mast” car chase in Death Proof).

More than an action war movie or character-based drama though, Basterds is a film about being in love with film and the power that cinema can have. There’s the German propaganda film-within-a-film that is screened to inspire even as the Alliance storms the beaches. There’s the idea of cinema as an escape for all those caught within the German iron fist. Then there’s the ending and, not wanting to reveal too much or discuss in too much detail, the idea that cinema itself can fight the Nazi’s and potentially save the world. In this case as more than merely a metaphor, instead as a literal reality. It’s a very romantic notion from a lover of cinema both as consumer and creator.

What Inglourious Basterds definitely won’t do though is win over any filmgoers that don’t get the established appeal of QT and the stylised Tarantinoverse that all his movies (this one indisputably included) take place in. Especially after he unleashes this bold and barmy finale that will pleasure as many people as it pisses off. Not that he seems to care, nor should he, as, arrogant to the very last, he ends his audacious bunch of Basterds account with the line: “you know, this might just be my masterpiece”. You know, it might just be.

*****