08) Inglourious Basterds
Directed by Quentin Tarantino
Released in 2009
The first time I watched Inglourious Basterds I remember remarking to my friend that, despite loving the film, it probably wouldn't be as enjoyable after numerous viewings. Tonight, however, was the third time I have watched it and it seems that I just continue to enjoy it more and more.
The movie interweaves the stories of numerous characters as events build up to the premiere of a Nazi propaganda film at a French cinema. A premiere that the entire Nazi high command, including Hitler, will be in attendance at. It sounds from its description to be a very traditional World War II film, but it is anything but. In many ways, Quentin Tarantino's movie has more in common with spaghetti westerns than it does Katyn or Black Book. He borrows endlessly from Sergio Leone's style of filmmaking from the extreme close ups and unique framing right down to use of Ennio Morricone music. The movie's incredible opening scene could even have been directly lifted from Leone's The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.
However, while it was the opening scene that struck me as the highlight of Inglourious Basterds the first time I saw it, I now absolutely adore the third chapter titled 'A German Night In Paris'. It almost has the feel of a French New Wave film like Jules Et Jim and puts tension, violence and excitement aside for 15 minutes while two main characters are explored.
As always with Tarantino, the conversational yet utterly mesmerising dialogue is fantastically written. But the more I watch Inglourious Basterds, the more I realise just how good the cinematography and direction are too. As the camera pans down to reveal the Jews under the floorboards in the opening scene it is hard not to feel shaken, as Landa's silhouette is framed in the doorway as Shoshanna tries to escape you truly feel how mysterious and evil the man is and as the flames roar in the final act you feel the carnage of what is happening.
Another standout point is obviously Chrisoph Waltz as the aforementioned Hans Landa. Move over Javier Bardem, because his enigmatic, contradictory, clever, thrill-seeking and sadistic character is one of the most entrancing and scary villains of the last decade.
Moreover, it's also refreshing to see a movie that doesn't portray the Jews as victims during the war. Instead, they are fighting back with everything they have got.
While the film's last lines state that it "might just be his masterpiece", this isn't necessarily true. What it is though is a damn fine piece of unique film-making from Tarantino who, once again, has somehow made an art house movie that multiplex audiences will love. How he does it I don't know, but there's one thing that's for sure: He's the biggest director of the generation and I for one hope he doesn't stop any time soon.
4/5
3 comments:
I love this film, one of the most consistently enjoyable films of last year. Love Waltz especially and I thought Kruger was better than Laurent. As with you, the more I watch it, the more I focus on the visual splendour which it exceeds in. Although it's about as good as it can be I'm totally gonna agree with Quentin that it is his masterpiece. :).
8/10
Whaaaaaaaat?
As much as I love Diane Kruger, I reckon Laurent totally outshines her in Inglourious Basterds. That and I think she's gorgeous too. :)
For me it will always go:
Pulp Fiction
Reservoir Dogs
Inglourious Basterds
Jackie Brown
Kill Bill
Death Proof
Haha. Maybe it was a seduction thing. People who liked Laurent also... have her as their wallpaper.
Yeah, the big 3 will forever reign supreme. I like Kill Bill but I don't like Jackie Brown or Death Proof. Maybe it's because Basterds was basically written and devised around the time of Pulp and Dogs. Or maybe I'm wrong on that fact and he put all his energy into that while Jackie Brown was shite. I haven't done my fact checking and have forgotten and too lazy to look. [/ramble]
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