Quentin Tarantino returns with Inglorious Basterds, a World War
Two film that beats the viewer over the head with the same intensity as Eli
Roth’s baseball bat-wielding Sgt. Donny Donowitz--who’s a member of the
"Basterds," the name given by the Germans to an undercover squad of OSS
operatives who roam the French countryside, killing every German in uniform that
they can find. And the killing is going mighty well. Commanded by Lt. Aldo
Raines (Brad Pitt), an easy going country boy from Tennessee who makes but one
demand of his men: they each owe him one hundred German scalps. And so the
Basterds become the Apaches of occupied France, hunting down and scalping
military men who are themselves usually the hunters.
Pitt is very good in the role of the enthusiastic Raines. He reminds me of
Robert Duvall’s Colonel Killgore from Apocalypse Now, in that he brings the same
good natured concentration and conviction to warfare, while exhibiting an
unnatural confidence that makes him very likeable. Christoph Waltz is another
standout as Pitt’s adversary--and a real scuzz-bucket--SS Colonel Hans Landa,
who takes pride in his job of hunting down Jews in the occupied territories.
Waltz is so good, and chilling, at being an evil SOB that you can’t wait for him to get his
comeuppance. Diane Kruger is also greatly sympathetic as a German actress, and
Mélanie Laurent is riveting as the true incarnation of an avenging angel.
And while there’s gore galore on display, the main focus of the film is the
building of tension. One of the best, most gripping
moments of Inglorious Basterds is the opening sequence, where Landa pays a
supposedly friendly visit to a French farmer and his family. You just know from
the very beginning that something is just wrong, here--and I found myself, a
horror movie buff, actually cringing at what horrors Landa had in store. The
film is two and a half hours long, but it’s so tautly executed, with plenty of
nerve-wracking suspense (such as an encounter in a French bar), that the time
flies away. And leave it to Tarantino to make a seemingly harmless movie theater
the bloody convergence point for all of his characters. Inglorious Basterds is a
great, over the top revenge fantasy that’s just as much a homage to the WW2 war
movies that it riffs off from.
--SF
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