Inglourious Basterds

December 7th, 2009

A Jewish cinema owner (Mélanie Laurent) in occupied Paris is forced to host a Nazi movie premiere, where a radical group of American Jewish soldiers called the Basterds, led by Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt), plans to roll out a score-settling scheme. The face-off is about to go down — that’s if Col. Hans Landa aka “The Jew Hunter” (Christoph Waltz) doesn’t get in the way. Quentin Tarantino directs this World War II-set spaghetti Western.

INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS is a Quentin Tarentino film which is unlike any film I have seen before about World War II. Tarentino calls it his SPAGHETTI WESTERN. However, he not only pays homage to Italian Spaghetti Westerns but World War II Action films and FRENCH NEW WAVE CINEMA. Although, I have never been a big fan of Tarentino, I really liked this movie. Not only does it employ great witty dialogue but lots of dark humor to offset the graphic violence. Not a fan of graphic violence I still found this film exceptional and I just learned when to hide my eyes. Not only does Tarentino give us a great thrill ride from the opening scenes until the dramatic finish, he does it with great style that is usually present more in French Cinema or films with the Bergman touch. I liked how Tarentino uses color in this movie, especially the color red, to paint his picture. This is not just a throwback to the War movies of old but it is updated style with an edge for the more sophisticated viewer. Tarentino takes some creative license with history to produce a complicated and very nice mix of unpredictable edge of your seat entertainment that keeps you guessing until he is ready to reveal the plot. Brad Pitt plays a Southern Lt. in a special unit called THE BASTERDS who along with a squad of angry Jews hunt Nazis down, leaving their own special calling card behind. Pitt is kind of an over the top relentless leader who has some great comedic lines. The Nazi Col.Landa, Christophe Waltz, is really the star of this film. He is a despicable Jew hunter and does his best evil with a smile on his face. However when he is on screen he is mesmerizing and you love to hate him. He and Pitt really shine as opposing forces. Not wanting to give this exciting story away I will just say, from what I saw today I predict this will be a runaway hit for Tarentino. In the midst of some summer blahs this film this should put some enjoyment back in actually going to the movies.