Analyzing Inglourious Basterds
Posted on | September 22, 2009 | No Comments
Inglourious Basterds is – surprisingly — kinda glorious.
Writer-director Quentin Tarrantino has finally shot a script that A) doesn’t beat us to death with pages and pages of unending Tarrantino-ese, and B) actually tells a story that goes beyond his ego — in that I mean its sole purpose is to not show off how many movies he can quote (AKA plagiarize) in his own movies, but rather to actually tell a unique and interesting story. Hands down, Basterds is his best movie since Pulp Fiction.
As you probably already know, Basterds is a World War II fantasy about a group of Jewish-American soldiers (led by Brad Pitt) who infiltrate Nazi-occupied France before D-Day to kill, terrorize, and scalp as many Nazis as they possibly can. That in and of itself is a great premise, a rarity for Tarrantino movies. (Don’t believe me? Try to summarize Pulp Fiction in one 60-words-or-less logline.)
The movie shines not because of Pitt and his spec-ops platoon but because of the European characters filling out the cast — this doesn’t happen a lot in Hollywood WWII. Rather than being cardboard cut-outs opposite Pitt’s stellar Lt. Aldo Raine, the French, German, and English supporting actors are all given full-bloodied characters to ply their brilliance with. And Christoph Waltz as the highly-intelligent, morally-corrupt Col. Hans Landa practically steals the show!
Another reason Inglourious Basterds works so effectively is that Tarrantino’s script makes sure it always works on two levels. There’s always a sense of dual suspense, due to the espionage elements for a variety of characters.
For example, in one scene, a famous German actress Bridget von Hammersmark (played by Diane Kruger) is actually a spy for the Allied Forces and calls a clandestine meeting at a Nazi bar with two of the Basterds and a British agent (the latter three of whom are disguised as Nazi SS officers). Things seem simple enough until some drunk, enlisted Nazi soldiers cause a raucous, which draws out a Nazi Gestapo officer into the fray.
There’s the conflict at the surface (will von Hammersmark be able to trade the secret information with the Basterds while surrounded by Nazis) and then there’s the added layer of conflict that complicates everything (will the Gestapo officer blow their cover, find out their secret and have them killed?).
It’s this multilayered tension that makes Inglourious Basterds far more effective than any of Tarrantino’s previous works — at least in terms of drama, action, and general storytelling.
Bravo, Tarrantino.
After the over-talky Death Proof, the uneven Kill Bill franchise, and the plain boring Jackie Brown, you’ve renewed my faith in you as a unique filmmaker.
Tags: Brad Pitt > Christoph Waltz > Diane Kruger > Inglourious Basterds > Jackie Brown > Kill Bill > Nazi > Pulp Fiction > Quentin Tarrantino > World War II