‘The Basterds’ are a motley crew of vengeful Jewish-American soldiers and a deranged German turncoat, led by the brutal and determined Lt Aldo Raine who wants his 100 Nazi scalps. It’s brilliant, bloody, darkly funny, with brilliant acting. To sum it up, if you’ve forgotten what great film making is, then this Quentin Tarantino film will certainly remind you.
It seems that Tarantino has remembered what made him a household name. Although Inglourious Basterds is not on the same level as Pulp Fiction (1994 ) or Reservoir Dogs (1992 ), it is still extremely impressive, mainly due to the director’s skill at weaving different story lines, characters, film making genres, and techniques.
The film begins with the charming but creepy Col Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz ), hunting down a Jewish family in the French countryside. The audience is instantly treated to intense expertly scripted dialogue. Shosanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent ) flees, under threat of death, across fields and escapes to Paris where she later runs a movie theatre. Fate soon ensures that Nazis are never far away from her and neither is the delightful prospect of revenge.
Meanwhile, hillbilly Lt Raine has gathered his men and gets to work. In a memorable scene he tells a terrified captured Nazi that ‘The Basterds’ are “in the killin’ Nazi business. And cousin, business is a-boomin’”. Sgt Donny Donowitz (Eli Roth ), aka ‘The Bear Jew’, shows off his prowess at clubbing Nazis to death with his baseball bat, much to the delight of his comrades. The Basterds kill, scalp, and even brand any surviving Nazis (of which there are very few ) with swastikas so that they can never hide from their past.
An opportunity to kill the Nazi top brass, including Hitler himself and his propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, arises when the premiere of a film is held at Dreyfus’ movie theatre. The Basterds hook up with posh tally-ho British officer Lt Archie Hicox (Michael Fassbender ) and movie star/undercover agent Bridget Von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger ) at country pub to plot their next move, however, things quickly turn sour. This pub scene is quite possibly the best in the film, certainly one of the most tense, funny, and bloodiest with fantastic dialogue.
Plots and fates collide to provide an ending which will blow you away. Pitt is fantastic at portraying Lt Raine and has some hilarious moments but there are also some stand-out performances by Waltz. This is definitely a film not to be missed.
Verdict: 5/5
