Movie – Inglorious Basterds

Inglorious Basterds (2009) – A secret American unit is parachuted into occupied France during World War II to kill Nazis and spread terror.  Their plan to kill German leadership coincides with a movie theater’s owner’s plan to get revenge for her family.

Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino.  Starring Brad Pitt, Micheal Fassbender, Christoph Waltz, Melanie Laurent and Diane Kreuger

I mentioned in a review of Wes Anderson recently (Moonrise Kingdom) that you either like his work or not. There’s an element of that, for me, in the work of Tarantino.  His penchant for Peckinpaugh style stylized violence.  The school boy’s taste for obscene language.  Or his affinity for scenes that serve little purpose other than shock.   It always strikes me that his work goes “off the rails” for me when he becomes too focused on how clever he is as a writer and director.  Such is the case for “Inglorious Basterds”.

At two and half hours, the movie is long.  When Tarantino insists on adding his superfluous stylish “touches” (seriously, what was with the shoe/foot fetish in this movie?), my attention began to wander.  Chopping another twenty to thirty minutes of the movie would have done wonders for it.

There’s plenty in the main portion of the story to make most people shift uncomfortably in their seats.  The American unit that is the center of the story is made up of folks who in any other venue would be branded as dangerous sociopaths.  They glory in the violence with which they fight the war and find especially gruesome methods to achieve their ends.  One character is cheered on for beating soldiers who have surrendered to death with a baseball bat.  These are not nice people and they are doing things with which any decent human being should be, at the very least, uncomfortable.

Like Anderson, Tarantino likes to create his own little world.  In that world things are usually a half bubble “off” from what most of us would see as “reality”.  In “Pulp Fiction” that works incredibly well, allowing the John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson characters to create thier iconic swath through the story.  It doesn’t feel like it quite makes it here.  My biggest problem was whenever Brad Pitt’s character, Lt. Aldo Raine, was on screen.  Pitt’s performance was far too much a caricature among the rest of the cast.  A piece of cinematic gristle caught between the viewer’s teeth that nags and distracts from everything else.

On the other hand, Christoph Waltz as SS Colonel Hans Landa is mesmerizing.  He easily deserved his Oscar for the role.  Here Tarantino creates something that stands with feet both in our reality and his. In partnership with an actor who can balance that finest of performance tight ropes, Landa shows the writer and director at his best,.

Why I Liked It – When he issn’t too focused on being “stylish” Tarantino delivers an interesting and well paced movie.  Oh, and Christoph Waltz.

Why You Will Like It – Christoph Waltz, Christoph Waltz, Christoph Waltz.  Everything else pales next to this performance.

Rated – R strong graphic violence, language and brief sexuality.  Not a movie for children nor for some adults.  The movie was a modest box office success and received mixed reviews.


Rating – *** Worth A Look