INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS
UNIVERSAL
RELEASED 21 August 2009
Okay, let’s get that misspelled title out of the way first shall we. When asked about it, director Quentin Tarantino gave the following answer: ‘Here's the thing. I'm never going to explain that. You do an artistic flourish like that, and to explain it would just take the piss out of it and invalidate the whole stroke in the first place.’ Thanks Quentin, that’s really helpful!
We begin at Chapter One, titled ‘Once Upon a Time in Nazi-Occupied France’. These ‘fairytale-like’ opening words stake out the film’s intention of perverting history. We’re at a remote French farmhouse in the hills of France, 1941. The farmer, Monsieur Lapadite (Denis Menochet) is chopping wood, stopping to tell his three daughters to go inside as a Nazi patrol approaches. Shot like an Italian spaghetti western (washing hanging on the line, lots of mood), the SS officer Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) questions Lapadite on the whereabouts of a Jewish family, in an almost hideously calm manner while savouring the farmers’ refreshing milk. The scene plays out for about twenty minutes, and it’s thoroughly gripping. Hans Landa immediately becomes a great villain, and he is the main character throughout the film.
Chapter Two introduces us to the ‘Inglorious Basterds’, led by Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt). His ‘Dirty Dozen’ style gang glory in scalping Nazis. They have begun to strike fear into the German army with their baseball killer ‘The Jew Bear’ (played by fellow director Eli Roth) and their habit of carving a swastiki into a survivor’s forehead.
Chapter Three (German Night in Paris) introduces us to Paris cinema-owner Emmanuelle Mimieux (Melanie Laurent), who acquires the attention of war-hero Fredrick Zoller (Daniel Bruhl), himself a huge movie fan and the star of a Nazi propaganda movie showing him snipe down hundreds of enemy soldiers over a few days. Much to Emmanuelle’s annoyance, Zoller manages to get the film’s premiere relocated to her small site, and all of the Nazi high command, including Adolf Hitler, will be there. This is how Aldo and his team are hired to help during chapter four, Operation Kino. A mission to blow up the Nazis in one fell swoop. The final chapter, Revenge of the Giant Face, will mean nothing to you until you’ve seen the film!
After the bitterly boring ‘Deathproof’ and the indulgent ‘Kill Bill Volume 2’, I honestly thought Tarantino had lost it. Spent, and washed up. I went into this screening with zero expectation, mumbling about all the things I thought would go wrong. So I’m delighted to report that I was wrong to worry, because the film is great fun! Superb performances come from Pitt, Waltz (who won best actor at Cannes), Laurent, and Michael Fassbender as Lt. Archie Hicox. The dialogue sparkles, and the laughs come hard and regularly. It’s definitely funnier than most comedies I’ve seen this year. Much like previous QT movies, the female roles are all written as strong women. The film is too long (148mins), and I’m sure it could’ve been trimmed. Half of the movie is actually subtitled (German and French being the two foreign languages), so be prepared. As usual with Taratino, there’s an eclectic soundtrack. It was a pleasure to hear a little-known Bowie track (‘Putting Out the Fire’) in a WWII movie!
While not as good as his big two (‘Reservoir Dogs’ and ‘Pulp Fiction’), ‘Inglorious Basterds’ is a hugely welcome return to form that showcases all of the directors writing and directing skills. I can happily say I’d gladly watch the movie again, something I haven’t felt with Tarantino for some time.
FOUR OUT OF FIVE