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Review: Inglorious Bastards- nihilist genius
08/23/09
Ingloroious Bastards* almost did something impossible: it almost made me root for Nazis. More on that later.
I'm sure I disagree with him about everything and although I don't know first hand, he seems like quite an unpleasant fellow; however, Quentin Tarantino is a genius and Inglorious Bastards ranks up there with his other great accomplishment, Pulp Fiction.
The story is every right-thinking, historically-minded person's fantasy: avoid a past disaster by killing one or a few of the individuals responsible for the event- in this case, Adolf Hitler and his gangster friends; and to mete justice on the evil- the same as above and everybody who follows them.
The American government recruits Jewish-Americans to go behind Nazi lines and terrorize the Germans. They do this successfully. The "Inglorious Bastards'" terrorist credentials in good order, IB changes gears and turns sharply into a Dirty Dozen, mission-behind-enemy-lines storyline. There are actually two plots to destroy the Nazi high command: the one by the IB and the other by an incognito Jewish theater owner.
Why genius?
First, the acting is phenomenally good. I've heard some criticize Brad Pitt's accent, but it sounded fine to me. Christoph Waltz as the Sherlock Holmes-meets-Heinrich Himmler SS Colonel, Hans Landa, is magnetic. It's fun to hear Teutonhottie Diane Kruger speak German.
Next, Quentin Tarantino forgoes cinema conventions (while holding true to Tarantino staples). Except for one soldier, Tarantino doesn't show us the recruitment or training of any IB (I learned that it will be in a prequel). The protagonists of the two anti-Hitler plots never meet. No character growth whatsoever. Yet, he makes it work.
IB is really a series of verbal confrontations, starting with Landa's knowing conversation with a French dairy farmer hiding Jews, and moving on to IBs' interrogation of a German patrol, a standoff in a basement bar, and several other magnificent tète-à-tètes (or as Brad Pitt's character, "Aldo the Apache" might say...ahh, never mind). One might think it odd that an action movie's most exciting scenes are spoken spars, but Tarantino's conversations have the feeling of action, as if you're watching them knife fight with words. Brilliant.
Risky, near-cheesy, distonal touches like super-imposed arrows pointing to Nazi hierarchy don't distract as much as delightfully surprise.
Politics/Message:
Quentin Tarantino is a nihilist.** I'm not. I don't think that all violence is absurd and I make distinctions between the proper conduct of war and barbarism. In one "chapter" of the movie, the IBs act like Nazis. It's not that they eschew protocol to satisfy their rage like some soldiers do in Saving Private Ryan or Band of Brothers- they enjoy it and consider it part of their mission.
Remember when liberals would criticize some of America's tactics in the War on Terror as "stooping to the level of terrorists?" I actually agreed that the United States could disgrace itself in war; I just didn't think that water-boarding spies and terrorists, as opposed to uniformed soldiers, and bombing terrorists hiding near civilians, qualified. The IBs' behavior certainly does and I just can't get behind that no matter how just the cause.
I felt very uncomfortable when the audience I went to see the film with cheered IB cruelty; IB sadism almost made me sympathize with the Nazis (I was able to stop myself in time).
IB isn't obnoxious in this regard when it deals with the anti-Hitler plot instead of the IBs' mundane Nazi hunting.
* Yes, I know it's spelled, "Inglourious Basterds," but I'm an English teacher and I don't get the joke. Thanks for making my job harder, Quentin.
** Nobody's really a nihilist. It's impossible as it goes against our nature. Some come close, however.
P.S. Inglorious Bastards is a remake of an Italian move which I'm watching tonight.
Cast below
Follow up:
Directed by
Quentin Tarantino
Writing credits
(in alphabetical order)
Quentin Tarantino written by
Cast (in credits order)
Brad Pitt ... Lt. Aldo Raine
Mélanie Laurent ... Shosanna Dreyfus
Christoph Waltz ... Col. Hans Landa
Eli Roth ... Sgt. Donny Donowitz
Michael Fassbender ... Lt. Archie Hicox
Diane Kruger ... Bridget von Hammersmark
Daniel Brühl ... Fredrick Zoller
Til Schweiger ... Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz
Gedeon Burkhard ... Cpl. Wilhelm Wicki
Jacky Ido ... Marcel
B.J. Novak ... Pfc. Smithson Utivich
Omar Doom ... Pfc. Omar Ulmer
August Diehl ... Major Dieter Hellstrom
Denis Menochet ... Perrier LaPadite
Sylvester Groth ... Joseph Goebbels
Martin Wuttke ... Adolf Hitler
Mike Myers ... General Ed Fenech
Julie Dreyfus ... Francesca Mondino
Richard Sammel ... Sgt. Werner Rachtman
Alexander Fehling ... Master Sgt. Wilhelm / Pola Negri
Rod Taylor ... Winston Churchill
Soenke Möhring ... Pvt. Butz / Walter Frazer (as Sönke Möhring)
Samm Levine ... PFC Gerold Hirschberg
Paul Rust ... PFC Andy Kagan
Michael Bacall ... PFC Michael Zimmerman
Arndt Schwering-Sohnrey ... German Soldier / Winnetou
Petra Hartung ... German Female Soldier / Beethoven
Volker Michalowski ... German Soldier / Edgar Wallace (as Zack Volker Michalowski)
Ken Duken ... German Soldier / Mata Hari
Christian Berkel ... Proprietor Eric
Anne-Sophie Franck ... Mathilda
Léa Seydoux ... Charlotte LaPadite
Tina Rodriguez ... Julie LaPadite
Lena Friedrich ... Suzanne LaPadite
Ludger Pistor ... Cpt. Wolfgang
Jana Pallaske ... Babette
Wolfgang Lindner ... Herrman #1
Michael Kranz ... Herrman #3
Rainer Bock ... General Schonherr
André Penvern ... Old French Veterinarian
Sebastian Hülk ... Hellstrom's Driver / Nazi Usher #1
Buddy Joe Hooker ... Gaspar
Carlos Fidel ... PFC. Simon Sakowitz
Christian Brückner ... Kliest (voice)
Hilmar Eichhorn ... Emil Jannings
Patrick Elias ... Jakob Dreyfus
Eva Löbau ... Miriam Dreyfus
Salvadore Brandt ... Bob Dreyfus
Jasper Linnewedel ... Amos Dreyfus
Wilfried Hochholdinger ... German Company Sgt.
Olivier Girard ... Maxim's Waiter
Michael Scheel ... General Frank
Leo Plank ... Motorcycle Rider #1
Andreas Tietz ... Motorcycle Rider #2
Bo Svenson ... American Colonel
Enzo G. Castellari ... Himself
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Anastasia Schifler ... Marie
Noemi Besedes ... German movie star (uncredited)
Alex Boden ... Military Attaché (uncredited)
Guido Föhrweißer ... SS Major (uncredited)
Jake Garber ... German soldier (uncredited)
Samuel L. Jackson ... Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
Gregory Nicotero ... Gestapo Major (uncredited)
Aleksandrs Petukhovs ... Soldier (uncredited)
Vitus Wieser ... French Waiter (uncredited)
Create a character page for: Major Dieter HellstromPerrier LaPaditeSgt. Werner RachtmanMaster Sgt. WilhelmPola NegriPvt. ButzWalter FrazerPFC Gerold HirschbergPFC Andy KaganPFC Michael ZimmermanWinnetouEdgar WallaceMata HariProprietor EricMathildaCharlotte LaPaditeJulie LaPaditeCpt. WolfgangPFC. Simon SakowitzKliest ?
Produced by
Lawrence Bender .... producer
William Paul Clark .... associate producer
Christoph Fisser .... co-producer
Henning Molfenter .... co-producer
Bruce Moriarty .... associate producer
Lloyd Phillips .... executive producer
Pilar Savone .... associate producer
Erica Steinberg .... executive producer
Bob Weinstein .... executive producer
Harvey Weinstein .... executive producer
Charlie Woebcken .... co-producer
Cinematography by
Robert Richardson
Film Editing by
Sally Menke
), 01:48:08 am, 1037 words PermalinkCategories: Now playing at a theater near you :: 5 comments »
5 comments
It isn't a remake of the italian film - It has the same title. 
Nice review, you had some sympathy for Nazis being brutalized bec you are not a Jew. No Jew on the planet would feel that way even for a second bec the enormity of the nazi crime does not allow for any moral equivilance, the basterds were very sweet and symathetic compared to the uber vicious sick Nazi machine.
Am an Indian. Even I vote for Jon. 
You reviewed Inglourious Basterds.This is a sort of remake of Inglorious Bastards, which you say you are watching "tonite". Not really a remake as much as a derivative.
I suggest you pay attention to the titles of the films you watch. 'Specially if you fancy yourself as a critic.
I assume you are American as simple spelling seems beyond you.
I explain why I don't choose to fall for Tarantino's trap. "Tonite" isn't the correct spelling either. 
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