Inglorious Basterds
"If I had to compare the German people to a beast, I would compare them to the hawk. A noble predator. If I had to compare the Jewish people to a beast, I would suggest the rat. Unlike my fellow Germans, though, I mean this as a compliment. Once a human has abandoned dignity, he can be resourceful indeed." -Hans Landa, paraphrased
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1) I find Tarantino's complete lack of moral understanding and his nihilistic worldview to be off-putting in the extreme. It's not even that he espouses morals I disagree with; he seems actively uninterested in even exploring the idea of a moral dimension to existence. The hyper-violence is on the screen not to make a statement about violence, but merely because violence is "fun." The reasons for the violence are unimportant. I got the distinct impression that Tarantino would have just as cheerfully made a movie about Nazis torturing Jews, and that disturbed me.
2) The movie was boooooring. Scenes dragged on for far, far too long. The only lengthy scene that had actual tension was the opening in the farmhouse (which I did legitimately enjoy, even if it was marred by overtly cute cinematic tricks, like the pulling aside of the sheet to reveal the approaching line of cars. She'd just finished PINNING that sheet; logically, she'd step or lean to the side to see what the noise was rather than UNPINNING it in order to frame the scene dramatically. That sort of thing takes me out of the narrative; it's like watching a movie with the commentary on.) Most of the rest of the time, though, the "tension" was either deflated when nothing unexpected happens (The Bear Jew is coming! Ominous! Ominous! The Bear Jew... uh... arrives and kills the guy, just like they said he would. Oh. Well, then), or self-inflicted (Seriously, British Spy person, just STOP TALKING because you've successfully defused the situation THREE TIMES already and then gone and opened your mouth unnecessarily in order to renew the threat), or just not tense at all because there's a backup plan (Oh, no! The Basterds are captured and found out! Will Hitler still be killed!? Of course he will, because NO ONE KNOWS about the OTHER plan, completely unrelated, to burn down the theater. If you want there to be tension about whether a task will succeed, make sure you DON'T show us the BACKUP plan ticking along smooth as a meringue.)
I kept feeling myself empathizing with the "noble, brave" Nazis and hoping they foiled this evil plot against them, and then going "WTF!? Why am I rooting for NAZIS!?" If the movie was intended to create this sort of cognitive dissonance in its viewers and thus explore the idea of enjoying revenge fantasies and their moral implications (as embodied in Hitler watching soldiers die and laughing in a movie at which the actual audience watched people tortured and killed and laughed at it), then I am duly impressed by the auteur's skillful manipulation of audience perceptions and emotions. However, I suspect the audience was indeed simply intended to laugh and cheer at the Nazis getting killed and watch the "pretty" and "entertaining" cinematic violence without deeper examination. I would love for someone to prove me wrong.
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