My top 30 films - No.20

20. Inglourious Basterds (2009) - "Once upon a time in Nazi occupied France…"

"You haven't seen war until you've seen it through the eyes of Quentin Tarantino." Did Quentin Tarantino pay attention during history lessons? This film definitely isn't the one to watch if you are doing a school project about World War 2. I remember when I was 14, I had to do a project about life in the trenches during World War 1 and I just watched Blackadder Goes Forth. At least I made my teacher smile.

It starts in 1941, when a teenage Jewish girl called Shosanna Dreyfus (Melanie Laurent) witnesses her family getting slaughtered at the hands of Colonel Hans Landa (Christolph Waltz) of the SS. Three years later, she is operating a cinema in Paris and has changed her name to Emmanuelle Mimieux. She meets Private Fredrick Zoller (Daniel Brühl (Good Bye, Lenin!), a decorated war hero who has a propaganda film made of his exploits. He takes interest in her and convinces Joseph Goebbels to show the premiere of the film, Stolz der Nation (Nation's Pride), at her cinema. Realising that the majority of the German High Command will be attending the premiere, Shosanna plots to burn down the cinema. Meanwhile, a group of Jewish-American soldiers, known as the "Basterds", led by Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt (Fight Club)) have landed behind enemy lines and are on a mission to spread fear throughout the Nazis. To quote Lieutenant Aldo Raine when confronting a group of Nazi survivors after one attack, 'you probably heard we ain't in the prisoner-takin' business; we in the killin' Nazi business. And cousin, business is a-boomin'. Other methods of intimidation include scalping victims and carving swastikas on their foreheads. They later learn about the premiere and team up with the British, who themselves plan to kill all the members of the German High Command. The name of this mission - Operation Kino. However, they discover something about the premiere which they don't expect at all and I won't reveal this.

I'll be honest in saying that Inglorious Basterds is more historically inaccurate than Pearl Harbour, which was plain awful (mainly because it was directed by Michael Bay who is a crime against humanity) and that Marie Antoinette film with Kirsten Dunst directed by Sofia Coppola, which had an aeroplane flying in the middle of it. And you know what? I don't care. It reminds us how good a director Quentin Tarantino can be, even if many would regard him now as a "fanboy". It reminds us that even though he made the rubbish that were Kill Bill and Death Proof, he has made some of the most memorable films of all time, by which I mean Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction (no disrespect to Jackie Brown). Inglourious Basterds is said to have been written in 1998, but Tarantino couldn't think of an ending. So it took a long time to be made, but it makes up some of his previous mistakes.

Many say that Quentin Tarantino is very good at dialogue set pieces, as from Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, and there are several moments which stand out to me. This includes the opening scene where the audience knows that there are people hiding in the shack and that Hans Landa might know that, but he just plays along with it. It is delaying the inevitable. Another memorable scene for me is the one in the tavern where we are introduced to Bridget von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger) and they end up playing "Guess who?" Many have called it a mini Reservoir Dogs and Tarantino is alleged to have said that it's his proudest moment as a director. I can see comparisons between this and the opening scene of Reservoir Dogs. Another way to tell that it's a Tarantino film is the chapters structure/format that it has, similar to Pulp Fiction. There are also cameos from Samuel L. Jackson and Harvey Keitel, who have featured in previous Tarantino films. Once again, like other Tarantino works, the soundtrack is not originally composed, but features a wide variety of music, from classic scores already used in films by Nick Perito and Ennio Morricone to the rock sounds of Billy Preston and David Bowie.

However, the best thing about this film is one particular actor and his portrayal of Hans Landa - Christoph Waltz. In this film, he is both mental and brilliant. One scene, he is ordering soldiers to kill somebody; in the next he is ordering strudel and cream. This is the first time he has been brought to the world's attention and it was worthy of the BAFTA and Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Apparently, Michael Fassbender, who plays Lt. Archie Hicox in the film, auditioned for the role of Hans Landa. Unfortunately for him it wasn't to be, but when he plays Magneto in X-Men: First Class it does show what he could potentially have given as Landa.
On the other hand, whereas some people have said that it's Tarantino's best piece since Pulp Fiction, Daniel Mendelsohn said that "Tarantino indulges this taste for vengeful violence by—well, by turning Jews into Nazis" and David Denby of The New Yorker said "it's too silly to be enjoyed, even as a joke"; he went on to call Tarantino "an embarrassment". I will admit it's not everybody's cup of tea and even though it's a Jewish revenge movie, there isn't that much Jewish content, compared to something like Schindler's List or Defiance. I don't like the fact that Tarantino keeps saying "it's my Xth film" for every release. Whether he likes it or not, he did direct part of Four Rooms, which was a "disappointment", and Kill Bill was two films. The reason being - people paid twice. He has also produced some stinkers, mainly the Hostel series. So if I was to give him advice I would say, "Quentin, remember what you have done that has been successful. I know you like to pay homage to everything from your youth, but try writing something original."