Either you’re going to like “Inglorious Basterds,” Quentin Tarantino’s latest, or you’re going to hate it. And like Tarantino’s widely recognized masterpiece, “Pulp Fiction,” “Inglorious Basterds” breaks all of the rules. It’s a spaghetti western but not really a western; it’s a comedy, very funny in many places and dramatic and violent in others; it’s an homage to any number of WWII movies with a lot of Tarantino flourishes thrown in. There are three plot strands that converge at the end. Think “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly:” Shosanna Dreyfus (Melanie Laurent), a French Jew whose family is slaughtered by ‘The Jew Hunter’ SS Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) is the Good. Landa, a ruthless, outwardly charming man who takes pride in his intelligence and his ability to do his job, is the Bad. And Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) and his group of American ‘Basterds,’ charged with striking fear into the hearts of the Germans, is the Ugly. The Basterds converge on Shosanna’s Paris movie theater when it is learned that Hitler will attend the premier of a new propaganda film. Unbeknownst to them, however, Shosanna has plans of her own and Landa waits in the wings to pounce on the conspirators.
“Inglorious Basterds” is about the bloody side of war and Tarantino adroitly builds tension and suspense as the movie progresses, breaking this tension with occasional bursts of violence. His script is full of dark humor, some laugh-out-loud funny with the best lines going to a capable Brad Pitt. Christoph Waltz won an acting award at Cannes and Tarantino has said that the success of this movie hinges on the skill of the actor portraying Landa. And skillful he is; his Landa is all charm that masks an insidious evil. Tarantino demonstrates his vast cinema knowledge by creating a musical score from various past movies, including “The Alamo,” “Kelly’s Heroes,” The Battle of Algiers” and “Death Rides a Horse” and, curiously, everything works. If I have a criticism, it’s that “Inglorious Basterds,” at 2 hours and 33 minutes, is too long, especially one segment in a French pub. “Inglorious Basterds” is a colorful fantasy of how World War II might have ended had Quentin Tarantino been in charge. 8/21/09
3 comments:
Quenton Tarantino reminds me of Jackson Pollack 60 years ago. Pollack came out with a new art form, Tarantino is doing the same. Jackson had lots of critics, Tarantino has many critics. No one has ever made movies like QT. Before Jackson, no one had painted like he did. QT is brave, creative, unabashed and uninhibited. His "crazy quilt" screenplays are funny, interesting and just amazing. I have to give him credit, he has my attention!
Quentin Tarantino's real genius is in his ability to include so many references, some subtle, some not, to past movies. And his productions are an amalgum of what has gone before, but something new, too. You can't pigeonhole a Tarantino movie and you probably shouldn't.
nice post. thanks.
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