After “Death Proof,” fans were wondering if Quentin Tarantino had lost his edge. Now he brings us his next film, “Inglourious Basterds,” a project that was about ten years in the making. He had written a little of the screenplay several years ago and only recently finished it, finally getting the project rolling after he promised to have it at the Cannes Film Festival in 2009. It may sound like the film was rushed, having gone from his promise to casting, pre-production, filming, and editing within a year, but the final product shows no signs of it as Tarantino has delivered yet another masterpiece.
Tarantino’s big war epic begins in Nazi-occupied France with the introduction of the main antagonist, Col. Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) of the S.S. He makes a house call on a family of dairy farmers that is believed to be hiding a family of Jews. The head of the family gives them up in return for his family’s safety for the rest of the war. What ensues is a bloody massacre of the Jewish family save one, Shosanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent). She escapes after Col. Landa makes an odd decision not to shoot at her.
The second chapter (Tarantino has divided the film into five chapters) introduces the protagonists know as The Basterds, led by Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt). They have been dropped behind enemy lines with only one purpose: to kill as many Nazis as they can. As Lt. Raine explains to us, they are there to show the utmost cruelty to the Nazis and to collect 100 Nazi Scalps each.
The third chapter takes us to the main plot of the story. Shosanna, now under a French alias, runs a cinema where she meets a young German soldier, Fredrick Zoller (Daniel Brühl). We learn that Zoller is a war hero and that the man in charge of the German film industry, Joseph Goebbels (Sylvester Groth), has made a film about his accomplishments. He planned to have the premiere at a large theater elsewhere, but Zoller has convinced him to change the venue to Shosanna’s cinema, giving her the perfect opportunity to exact her revenge on the several high-ranking Nazis attending, which includes Hitler himself. Meanwhile, the Basterds are given orders to infiltrate that very premiere and do what they do best.
I, too, was greatly looking forward to this film, being very familiar with his previous masterpieces “Reservoir Dogs,” “Pulp Fiction,” and “Kill Bill.” It was everything I hoped it would be. After having heard early reports out of Cannes that it was “too talkative” (a common misconception with Tarantino’s films), it worried me a bit that Tarantino might have rushed the film too much. However, for a film that is two and a half hours and is around 95 percent dialogue driven, it flew by in a snap.
Tarantino has a magnificent knack for writing dialogue that pulls the viewer directly into the situation. He makes it feel as if you are truly witnessing these events. Of course, much of the credit has to go to the cast, particularly Christoph Waltz and Brad Pitt, for their excellent delivery. Pitt plays Aldo Raine just short of making him a hillbilly stereotype. Sure he’s funny at times, but he’s not there for only that purpose.
By far the greatest performance in the film goes to Christoph Waltz as Col. Hans Landa. Those same reports from Cannes also gave much praise to Waltz for his amazing portrayal. Nicknamed “The Jew Hunter,” his reputation across Europe proceeds him wherever he goes. When we first meet him, he is warm and friendly, but eventually that persona melts away into a grave tone when he gets around to the actual business at hand.
Later in the film, we see his detective skills at work as he tries to find certain traitors among the Germans. Near the end of the film, we see him at his silliest. I won’t go into any detail here, but I just want to note that his performance goes the full range of emotions from the beginning of the film to the final scene. You can be certain that Waltz will be receiving an Oscar nomination come awards season.
Tarantino punctuates his film with an amazing score, though it seemed like a lot of it was borrowed from Morricone, famous for his scores for western films. The whole film comes off as Tarantino showing us how much he loves the movies as well as making them. His homages are numerous and undeniable throughout, including the music and the “men on a mission” theme (“The Dirty Dozen” immediately pops into mind). He even includes a lot of discussion on the film industry in Germany, mentioning directors like G. W. Pabst and Leni Riefenstahl, as well as including actor Emil Jannings (most noted for his performances in a couple of M. W. Murnau’s films) in the premiere.
The ending will leave some viewers concerned, but that’s ok. If you’re at all familiar with Tarantino, you know he’s not one for following the rules (“Pulp Fiction” was an early example of how to completely split up story structure), so of course, it comes as no surprise when he throws out the history books and invents his own ending. Would it have been nearly as effective if he had just followed what happened in history to the letter? Absolutely not. Think back to the title of the first chapter: “Once Upon a Time…..in Nazi Occupied France.” Those first four words should give you a clue.
It becomes hard to think anyone could call a film like this “too talkative.” It stands to reason that they are just not listening to the dialogue very closely which flows from the actors like it’s being said naturally and keeps the story thoroughly engaging. Tarantino has fashioned a film that has a little something for everyone. There’s the dialogue he’s become so well-known for which will delight his fans, action which will keep the younger viewers interested, and a great story that will keep all cinema-lovers engaged and transfixed to the screen, which is Tarantino’s (perhaps the biggest cinema-lover of them all) purpose all along.
4/4 stars.