Certification. 18
Running Time. 2 hours 33 mins
Director. Quentin Tarantino
Cast. Daniel Brühl, Julie Dreyfus, Michael Fassbender, Diane Kruger, Mélanie Laurent, Brad Pitt, Eli Roth, Christoph Waltz.
Inglourious Basterds befittingly illustrates director Quentin Tarantino's cinematic brilliance and his tendency towards self-indulgence in equal measure.
Set in occupied France during World War II, the film positions itself as the story of Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) and his secret, Nazi-killing death unit of Jewish-American soldiers, the eponymous Basterds. Pitt is a revelation, and whilst the Basterds are appropriately portrayed as a ruthless and bloodthirsty bunch following some fearsome introductions, they then barely feature in the film.
The real stars of the film are Mélanie Laurent, as the young Parisian cinema owner, Emmanuelle Mimieux and to a lesser extent, Diane Kruger, as the renowned German actress Bridget von Hammersmark. Two strong female characters in yet another world of violent males.
However, the standout performance comes from Christoph Waltz as the Gestapo officer, Colonel Hans Landa. Underlyingly menacing and disturbing, Waltz manages to produce a character rife with sophistication and a surprising degree of humour. A soft-spoken, silken menace, masking the character's true sociopathic tendencies.
For Inglourious Basterds, Tarantino draws heavily on World War II behind-enemy-lines suicide mission movies like The Dirty Dozen, Kelly's Heroes and The Inglorious Bastards. Tarantino only borrows the title from Enzo Castellari's 1978, film, The Inglorious Bastards, the storylines are completely different.
A significant proportion of the film is subtitled, although this is far from apparent from the trailer - a move, I presume, to appease US audiences. Every respective nationality speaks its own language. Alongside English, dialogue is exchanged in French, German and even Italian, with great comic effect. Indeed, the communication breakdown caused by the different languages plays an integral role in the film.
The director employs many of his favourite tricks in Inglourious Basterds - smart dialogue, a non-linear storyline and in particular, lengthy, stifling and incredibly tense scenes. The slender storyline is demarcated by five distinct chapters,
- Chapter One. Once upon a time...in Nazi-occupied France.
- Chapter Two. Inglourious Basterds.
- Chapter Three. German night in Paris.
- Chapter Four. Operation Kino.
- Chapter Five. Revenge of the giant face.
Some of the chapters run in excess of 30 minutes. For example, the ominous opening scene where Colonel Landa innocently questions the dairy farmer, Perrier Lapadite (Denis Ménochet) runs to over 20 minutes, and serves as an indication of what is to come.
Of course, there are shocking massacres in Inglourious Basterds, but the violence only erupts in short, bloody bursts. The action is balanced with dialogue and subterfuge. Inglourious Basterds is nowhere near as relentless as the carnage of Kill Bill: Vol. 1 for example.
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