Review: Inglourious Basterds

By Teresa Jusino

Quentin Tarantino is a geeky director.  His references make references.  His characters then proceed to reference those references.  And with his latest film, Inglourious Basterds, he’s managed to make a World War II movie in the geekiest way possible.

He has created WWII fan fiction.

It doesn’t start out that way. The film opens with a harrowing scene between an SS officer named Hans Landa (played by Christoph Waltz) and Perrier LaPadite (Denis Menochet) a Frenchman suspected of hiding Jews in his home.  The scene is chilling, because it takes its time.  Tarantino excels at conversations, and this one ratchets up the suspense so high that after a while you realize you haven’t been breathing.

Then, something interesting happens. We learn that the lone survivor of Landa’s killing of a Jewish family, a young woman named Shoshanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent), has escaped to Paris where she runs a movie theater and lives under an assumed name.  From then on, the movie becomes a Jewish revenge film – Kill Bill with Nazis – and it is then that the film becomes truly interesting.  We’ve all seen the wrenching, sad movies about the Holocaust.  We’ve also all seen the military thrillers about WWII.  Been there, done that.  What Tarantino has managed to do is create a film that gives the audience the kind of deep joy that can only be derived from giving the Devil what-for.  It isn’t often that one gets to LOL about Nazis, but Inglourious Basterds allows us to do just that.

Much like he did with his severely underrated Death Proof, Tarantino has taken an old, worn-out genre of film – in this case, the WWII/Holocaust movie – and brought it into the 21^st Century successfully.   The humor written into the script has a lot to do with it.  However, much of this film’s success is due to Brad Pitt’s hilarious performance as the leader of the titular Basterds, a group of Jewish-American soldiers sent to France with only one mission:  Kill Nazis (I wonder if they ever used the Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique!).  Brad Pitt has started doing the Robert DeNiro thing – hot leading man turned older character actor – and he’s doing it well.  What started with his character in Burn After Reading has become more nuanced in the role of Lt. Aldo Raine, and I’m sure that this character will become one of the most memorable and beloved in American film.

In fact, the entire cast is amazing. I’m sure there will be myriad award nominations for Christoph Waltz.  His Landa is frightening precisely because he seems so entirely benign.  Except for one brief instance of violence in the film, he seems like a perfectly reasonable, friendly, funny guy that you’d love to hang out with and debate even as he’s comparing Jews to rodents.  That’s what’s scary.  Despite wishing for his comeuppance, you also really like the guy and wish more screen time upon him.

And keep your eyes on Mélanie Laurent.  Her performance as Shoshanna is deep, laser-sharp, and entirely badass.  If she’s not well known outside of French cinema yet, she will be, and she deserves to be.

Lastly, film geeks rejoice! Entire swaths of this movie are devoted to obscure German films!  If you’ve never heard of G.W. Pabst, this movie will make you feel like you’ve studied his entire oeuvre.

Inglourious Basterds is some of Tarantino’s best work – in my opinion, second only to Kill Bill – and is worth several viewings.  If you’re looking for historical accuracy, go read a book!  You shouldn’t be watching movies to learn things about history anyway!  But if you’re interested in watching one of the most original takes on World War II to come along in a long time, get thee to the movies and see this film!

TERESA JUSINO was born on the same day that Skylab fell. Coincidence? She doesn’t think so. As a writer, her work has appeared in Elmont Life newspaper, and on the sadly defunct website, CentralBooking.com. She is a founding member and editor of The Revolving Door Commune Blog, is currently at work on a collection of short stories, and is writing a web series for Pareidolia Films called The Pack, which is set to debut in March 2010! As a geek, Teresa loves all Star Trek, Lost, Fringe, comics, and anything Joss Whedon, Brian K. Vaughan, and Neil Gaiman ever touched. She is also an aspiring fangbanger. Get Twitterpated with Teresa, or visit her in The Red Room.

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