In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a group of Jewish-American soldiers known as "The Basterds" are chosen specifically to spread fear throughout the Third Reich by scalping and brutally killing Nazis.
Review
Inglourious Basterds was one of those rare films that I needed to go back and re-watch before putting my review down on electronic paper.
It needed a repeat viewing due to the fact that I had misjudged what I was about to watch and as such came away with a negative opinion of the film. It didn't deserve this, that was my fault, so I watched it again.
When I first watched Inglourious Basterds I was under the impression that I was about to watch a war film. a balls out, macho, good old fashioned war film. Inglorius is not this, no matter how the trailer or media portray it. What it is, is an interesting, thinking person's film, brimmed with character development and the blackest of humour. This is what I found on my second viewing of the film and it was all the better for it.
Don't be fooled by the main storyline being about a team of American Jews hell bent on killing every Nazi they come across. Yes they are part of the plot, and a major part at that, but they are not central to it. The central story revolves around the much more interesting duo of Col. Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) and Shosanna Dreyfus/Emmanuelle Mimieux (Mélanie Laurent).
A young Shosanna is shown escaping from Landa at the beginning of film after he kills her entire family. After this she is presented as Emmanuelle Mimieux, owner of a cinema that is about to host the premier of Germany's propaganda film Nations Pride. Attending this premier is the whole of the third Reich, including Hitler himself, along with Landa. Mimieux has agreed to host this premier on the intention of burning the cinema down along with all the Nazi's attending. It just so happens that Brad Pitt's Basterds have a similar plan which of course creates the over arching plot.
It really is the Landa/Emmanuelle story line that captures your attention and is helped by the two actors being the strongest of all the other actors on display here. There is real energy and purpose behind Waltz and Laurent's portrayal of both their characters and that is why they and their story rises above the rest.
That's not to say that the Basterd's themselves aren't an interesting addition to the film. They bring the bullish, aggressive attitude to the film along with some really dark humour that balances nicely with the more intimate and restrained Landa/Emmanuelle story. The Basterds are also the violence behind the film. Now there isn't much (again maybe mis-represented by trailers and the like) but when it is shown on screen it is quick, affecting and visual. More important though is that it works.
Now comes the real driving force of the film, the dialogue. We all know that Tarantino's forte is his dialogue. All his previous films (discounting the atrocious Death Proof) contain classic conversations that have inspired many other imitators but he really does excel himself with Inglourious. The surprise is, as I found out, is that you just don't expect it and the reason for this is because the film is billed as a 'War' film. You never expect 10 to15 even at times 20 minutes of conversation between characters in this type of movie, your just waiting for the next dose of Nazi carnage. It such a great slight of touch that you may miss it the first time, but on repeat viewing it becomes crystal clear that this is what he intended. He intended you to sit and listen to the characters rather than watch a spectacle. He does deserve credit for this but I do feel he may miss the mark with some viewers who will expect the token war film.
There is a weakness however and yes Eli I'm looking at you. The casting of Eli Roth was a serious misstep, every time he's on screen its painfully clear that the guy just can't act and slightly hinders the scenes he's in. I know he's a mate of Tarantino's but he's a director himself so must have seen how badly his presence and 'acting' affected the scenes.
In the end though Inglourious triumphs but it is down to the two main players Waltz and Laurent and the script they had to work from. So don't, like me, go in thinking your about to see a full throttle war film, Inglourious is much more than that, its a film you have to listen to.
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