What if the Allies had killed
Hitler and ended WWII early? Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds plays a
bit like a revenge fantasy. It is split into five vignettes taking place in
Nazi Occupied France that all tie together by the end.
Tarantino is one of independent
film’s most celebrated directors. His films are mostly considered classics.
With Inglourious Basterds, however, he made his most expensive (costing around
seventy million) and subsequently most successful film to date (in terms of
gross box office). He has said that it is the first part of a new trilogy, with
Django Unchained being the
second in the series.
Cinematographer Robert Richardson and production
designer David Wasco produce
brilliant work on the film, which overall is aesthetically fantastic (and maybe
Tarantino’s best in that regard). The visuals (and especially the score, taken
from classic westerns, war films and David Bowie) reference genre films that
Tarantino grew up with.
As good as Tarantino’s writing is
(and it is very good), the performances are maybe even better. The cast is
universally wonderful, making stars out of a few European actors who before did
not have that much exposure in the states. The ensemble includes: Brad
Pitt, Melanie Laurent, Christoph Waltz (who won an
Oscar for his work), Eli Roth,
Michael Fassbender, Diane Kruger, Daniel Bruhl, Til Schweiger, Jacky Ido, B.J. Novak, Gedeon Burkhard, Omar Doom, August Diehl, Denis Menochet, and Mike Myers, with voice work from
Samuel L. Jackson and Harvey Keitel.
Inglourious Basterds was
nominated for eight Oscars, including Best Picture, but only won one. It is my
favorite of Tarantino’s films (and among my
25 favorite films from the last decade), and a must-see for fans of
Tarantino’s work and war films. It is brilliant.
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