Movie Feature: Inglorious Basterds (2009)
Inglorious Basterds plays out exactly like it's namesake: inglorious in all its execution of gore and profanity in the name of vengence. But praise must be given where it is due, and Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds is a unique, bold, and stylistic presentation of a fictional World War II. In fact, the whole movie is worth watching just for Christoph Waltz's remarkable acting in his role as the "Jewish Hunter" SS Colonel Hans Landa. He manages to dominate every scene with varying degrees of humour, tension, and anger, and you begin to forget the occasional boredom and disengagement the movie imparts. Tarantino himself acknowledges it, and so does the numerous awards Waltz has been nominated for or won.
Inglorious Basterds unfolds over five chapters with an omniscient narrator dropping in occasionally. It is unique in its alternate retelling of the reign of the Nazi Germany, and two plots hatch to assassinate the Fuhrer and its top officers. One is by a French-Jew girl (Melanie Laurent) who lost her family to Hans Landa, and another by a team of Jewish-American soldiers, led by Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt). Here, it is bold with its theme and depiction of violence, Tarantino-style. The DVD has no holds-barred when it comes to the scalping of Nazi soldiers, shootings and swastika carvings by the Basterds. Yet it can not be denied that it is stylistic in its use of mis-en-scene, and witty banter. Perhaps the more conservative and sensitve audiences may be offended by the movie, which brings to mind another positive point: its lack of pretense. Tarantino has never adverstised his movie as anything more than what is expected from him, and after hits like Pulp Fiction (1994) and Kill Bill (2003), one can hardly expect Inglorious Basterds to be a dramedy or rom-com.
Despite the fresh perspective of the movie, it is unexpectedly empty. For one, the movie suffers from an excessive amount of characters for none are as well-developed or written as Hans Landa or Aldo Raine. In fact, there is hardly any background information at all save for Shosanna Dreyfus, the Fench-Jew girl. It is also a movie that revels in violence, and thrives in its audience's enjoyment of such themes. Violence solves everything here, and any acts of goodwill or sympathy are quickly met with severe consequences. It is a movie of a shallow world, and therefore, in the aftermath of the excitement and thrills, there is only an empty feeling.
For fans of Tarantino, this is the movie to watch because it is easily one of his best after Pulp Fiction (1994) and Kill Bill (2003), and fans of action and gore will like it as well. If you are wanting something different, give this movie a go too, but if you are the squeamish type / emotionally traumatised after The Notebook (2004) / politically-correct type, skip this.