I Think They're Glorious Basterds!

Brandon: Let the snobbery begin! And what better way to kick off an epic blog than to watch an epic movie?! With the release of Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds on DVD, this seemed the perfect opportunity to see whether Tarantino's latest bloody epic lives up to its hype, or whether it's just a dud.

Jenni: Can you really go wrong with a Tarantino movie though? Granted, not all of his films meet with box office success, but he's one director that sticks by his vision and pretty much guarantees a viewing experience unlike anything you've ever seen before. Tarantino makes movies that take a look at a particular genre, and he tries to make the best "genre" movie that he can.

Brandon: Once again I'm in awe of your insight into these matters. And you're absolutely right - Tarantino's back at it again: this time setting his focus on World War II films. Set near the close of WWII, Inglourious Basterds follows a group of Jewish-American soldiers known as "The Basterds" working behind enemy lines to spread terror among German troops by scalping and brutally killing Nazis.

Jenni: With a plot like that, I don't think any viewers will be going into this movie expecting an Academy Award contender for best picture. However, Tarantino uses this outlandish plot to draw upon the viewer's American patriotism and get the audience behind him. Nazi's are the perfect movie bad guys! Before you even sit down to watch a WWII-era movie, the viewer is already familiar with the Nazi baddies, and we're already rooting for the Allies to go in and kick Nazi butt. Even though The Basterds are cruel and merciless, as an audience member I was rooting for them from Nazi kill #1.

Brandon: And therein lays the brilliance behind this movie. There's one scene early in the film when we see The Basterds finishing off a Nazi patrol that they had ambushed. As you mentioned, The Basterds were cruel and merciless, yet the Nazi commander was portrayed as honorable and brave (for the sake of that scened, and despite whatever other dastardly Nazi tricks he had committed off-screen). In fact, a good deal of the movie focuses on the Nazi soldiers, and we're shown their humanity and get to know them more than we do The Basterds. And yet whenever The Basterds come in and massacre these same Nazis we've gotten to know, as an audience we still cheer for the "good guys".

Jenni: That's exactly where Tarantino gets it right. There's another great scene near the end of the film wherein all of the high-ranking Nazi officers (including Hitler himself) are watching a German propaganda film in which a single Nazi soldier is sitting high in a building and killing Allied troops one-by-one. The Nazis in the theater are shown cheering and laughing as each Allied troop dies. And, understandably, we're disgusted by how terrible these Nazis are. However, mere minutes later, The Basterds come charging into that very same theater and start killing the fleeing Nazis in an almost identical manner to that which was shown on the propaganda movie before - shooting them from above like fish in a barrel. Where we as an audience were horrified before at the Nazi spectacle, we now find ourselves cheering for The Basterds when they do the same thing. To play on an audience's emotions like that is fine film making!

Brandon: Agreed! Although the movie wasn't my favorite of Tarantino's works, I still thoroughly enjoyed what he accomplished with this film, and I was entertained to the end. And don't forget the acting: Brad Pitt's performance as The Basterd's leader, Lt. Aldo Raine, has been called "over the top" by some critics, but in a film that tries to hard to play off of the viewer's nationalistic sympathies, I thought the performance was very appropriate.

Jenni: But credit for the true outstanding performance of the film has to go to Christoph Waltz as German Col. Hans Landa. His performance was fascinating. His character was so devious and cruel - he embodied the true Nazi threat in the film. I couldn't take my eyes off of him, and every time he was on screen I would hang on his every word. What an awesome performance! He's already taken home the Golden Globe fore Best Supporting Actor in a drama this year. I would be shocked if he didn't receive similar honors at the Academy Awards in March.

Brandon: So overall, I think we can both give our seals of approval to this film. Ah! It sure is nice to come away from a movie feeling satisfied; though I'm a little sad that we didn't get to be more snobbish for our inaugural post.

Jenni: Don't you fret, my fellow snob. A good movie is truly rare to find. I'm certain we'll find something fun to critically destroy very soon. With that, the snobs are out. Peace!