“A DIFFERENT KIND OF WAR”
Starring: Brad Pitt, Melanie Laurent, Christoph Waltz, Eli Roth, Diane Kruger, Paul Rust, Michael Fassbenderr, Mike Myers and B.J. Novak
Written & Directed by: Quentin Tarantino
Rated R for strong graphic violence, language and brief sexuality
Genre: Action/Adventure/War
By John Delia
A raw action sarcastic dramady, Inglourious Basterds is one of Tarantino’s best no-holds-barred in-your-face who-the-hell-cares I’m going to film it for my audience and they will love it, masterpiece. If you are into tasteless humor with a lion’s share of brutal sadistic war related violence and a little tongue-in-cheek changing of military history, then jump in your tank and drive to the nearest theater with your best bud. The film is a hoot!
The outlandish story goes something like this: The time is World War II and the German’s (or as Lt. Aldo Raine would say his Southern drawl NATZIS) have occupied France and are rounding up the Jews. Treacherous Nazi, Colonel Hans Landa (Waltz) has a very keen eye for ferreting out families who have been hiding out in partisan homes on the countryside. As the movie begins he finds the Dreyfus’s who he kills except for Shosanna (Laurent) who escapes into the forest. Changing her name she takes over a cinema in a
suburb of Paris and works undercover helping the resistance.
Meanwhile hillbilly Lieutenant Raine has organized a band of Jewish American soldiers he calls “The Basterds,†who are scouring the French countryside killing Nazis using some highly unorthodox methods. When Raine gets a call from his superior to meet up with Shosanna for a special mission, the wheels are set in motion for a diabolical chance for retribution and revenge.
Brad Pitt puts on an awesome show as the antagonistic leader who will stop at nothing to capture his quarry and then make them suffer. His crew is even more delighted to carve-up, trounce and batter their reprehensible enemy and they take every opportunity to do so.
Throwing in some outlandish dark comedy, Tarantino moves his story along at a fast pace grinding out several stories that combine for his explosive twisted ending. Filling his script with
vengeance and revenge, much like he did with Kill Bill, the movie becomes an ode to those who will eat it up like spooning out ice cream. Special Kudos to Tarantino for the Indian Poker scene, it is so amusing yet intense my mind wavered from laughter to shock.
Inglourous Basterds has brilliant cinematography, choreography, costuming and cast. It does however also have an R rating due to strong graphic violence, language and brief sexuality. Some of the scenes are very
realistic and could cause one to cringe, wince and cower so take this into consideration and do not bring children to see the movie.
FINAL ANALYSIS: A film I still talk about with friends. (5 of 5 Palm Trees)