Film Review: Inglourious Basterds

Quentin Tarantino is back and he is taking on the Nazis. With his unique vision he has reinvented 1978 warsploitation film, Inglorious Bastards (the original is spelt correctly – Tarantino’s takes certain liberties with the English language).  Tarantino is known for finding inspiration in 70s genre movies; a massive film buff he is constantly bringing lost work back into the public conscious (the original Inglorious Bastards has just been released on Blu Ray). Anyone who has seen the documentary, Not Quite Hollywood will be familiar with the joy Tarantino has for this era of filmmaking, and the excitement he finds in violence-packed -ploitation films of all descriptions.

For Inglourious Basterds he has not gone down the path of a remake, taking only the broadest brushstrokes of the original plot – a group of rag-tag military trained men in France, fighting Nazis. In Tarantino’s vision the Basterds are a group of Jewish American soldiers, bought together for the primary purpose of killing as many serving Nazis in France as possible.

Given they are the title characters, the Basterds don’t actually occupy much of the screen time. Like their urban legend status amongst the Nazis in the film, they are spoken about often, but seen infrequently. More so than any of his other films, Tarantino focuses on verbal exchanges over action. Every scene is jam-packed with dialogue. Unfortunately these scenes are a bit hit and miss, rarely meeting the standards set by Tarantino’s earlier films like, Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, where the clever dialogue seems effortless in its wit. However from these exchanges- German actor, Christoph Waltz emerges as the film’s shining light.

Waltz’s menace and humour as Col. Hans Landa translates fantastically onto the screen; he is well-deserving of his Cannes accolade.  Playing an SS officer nicknamed the ‘Jew-Hunter’, he is evil and greed wrapped up in clever word games – the perfect stereotype of the Nazi officer. Given by far the best dialogue in the film, Waltz’ performance is perfectly judged, showing both the intellect and opportunistic nature of his character.

By using native speakers for the French, German and American roles, Tarantino has done something so simple and effective, it is a mystery why directors don’t do this more often. The French component, made up of cinema owner, Shosanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent) and Marcel, the projectionist, (Jacky Ido) is beautifully shot, adding an interesting aspect to the story, with a nice connecting theme of revenge. There are many recognisable American faces in the Basterds pack, and some interesting cameos; though Mike Myers appearance as an English Officer is more absurd than inspired.

Tarantino’s status as an auteur, and his collaboration with actors like Brad Pitt and Diane Kruger, means that the publicity surrounding Inglourious Basterds is operating in hyper drive. Unfairly for Tarantino, because he is excellent as a director and screenwriter (but never as an actor, thankfully not imposed on this film), any film that is simply good is going to compare unfavourably to his body of work, which is so strong. Whilst this film has many great scenes that showcase, not only the director’s talent, but also the quality of the cast, the film as a whole is messy. It misses some of the Tarantino trademarks, like the kick-arse soundtrack. Disappointingly Inglourious Basterds‘ soundtrack feels like it has absconded from other Tarratino films, adding little to the finished product.

Inglourious Basterds ends with Brad Pitt’s character proclaiming that he has just made his masterpiece; ever the optimist, this is a very thinly veiled comment from the director. It is fair to say that this isn’t the case; it is however definitely impressive to see such a high calibre of actors ensembled for a film, and comforting to know that Tarantino is always striving to make better films.

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Cast: Brad Pitt, Eli Roth, Christoph Waltz, Mélanie Laurent, Jacky Ido, Daniel Brühl, Diane Kruger, BJ Novak, Michael Fassbender.

Australian Release Date 20^th August

Images from I Watch Stuff