Inglourious Basterds

[jacquelineb]

Saw Inglourious Basterds last night. And I have some thoughts on it, rambling and not-cohernet if you've not seen the film (or perhaps even if you have...). Spoilers abound below the cut.



What I didn't like:

* The violence. Not in of itself, that is. I could 'cope' watching it, and normally Tarantino's blackly-comic-extreme-violence doesn't bother me, but parts of this made me twitchy for some reason. I wonder if the setting had not been World War II if I'd have dealt with it better. Honestly, Kill Bill was probably far worse for the violence, but it was not exactly reality, unlike WWII were people did die in horrific ways. That is was being played for laughs made me wince a bit. YMMV.

* Brad Pitt – I know the man can act, and I know all the characters were meant to be archetypes and caricatures in many ways, but Pitt just stuck out like a sore thumb by hamming it up way too much. (but I'll admit his 'eye-talian' accent was hilarious).

* Pitt's character – why on earth wasn't he, as the leader of the basterds, Jewish? It struck me as being very, very strange. Ok, we don't get hill-billy mountain man if he's Jewish, but surely Tarantino's is capable of coming up with an equally interesting Jewish equivalent?

* Like Pulp Fiction (I know this is sacrilegious) it could have done with a bit of pruning; not that it dragged, but parts just felt a bit too rambling (the scene in the bar, which worked well for the tension and some lovely dialogue moments, was particularly guilty of this.)

* I know Tarantino is more than capable of writing interesting female characters, so I would have liked to have seen much, much more of that here. Shoshanna was great, but she had a lot more potential than Tarantino utilised.

What I did like:

* The opening scene; Tarantino's rambling tendencies work brilliantly here, building up the tension and moments of terror wonderful.

* And as a result, the character of Hans Landa – bloody brilliant. The next time a prominent film mag makes a Top Ten Villains list, I'll cry if he's not on it. Christoph Waltz is one to watch out for.

* The film metaphor/theme running through it and how that linked to the revenge plot of Shoshanna/Emmanuelle. More on that below.

* Frederick Zoller – Christian Bruhl, playing both to type and against it. Really liked that underneath the sweet-faced-ness there was always the sense of him being something more sinister, and that played out in the final stand-off really well.

* Michael Fassbender – good performance, despite my reservations about the use of his character. See below.

(Oddity note: now have David Bowie's Cat People running through my head. Odd choice for the film, not sure how I feel about it though. But a good version of the song.)

More precisely though:

I'd have liked it a lot more if Tarantino had decided on which story to focus on. It felt that in some ways the basterds were gatecrashing Shohanna's tale of revenge, rather than going off and doing what they did best. Almost like two films smooshed together; a crossover that wasn't a crossover. Even though I really liked Hicox's character (Michael Fassbender I hope has a good career ahead of him, and did anyone else think he looked like a skinny Christian Bale once he was shaved?) bringing him in felt like trying to force a thematic link (films/cinema) between Shoshanna and the allies/basterds. A bit redundant and unnecessary (particularly only to have him killed so soon after his introduction), particularly since Tarantino was already doing interesting things with the ideas of Nazi propaganda films and their role within the Third Reich. As ever he makes references and homages to older films, and since a key theme of Basterds in particular was film, this would have further enhanced it's goals. And to have Shoshanna use the cinema and it's by-product (the film reels themselves) as a weapon against them, creating at the end a rather striking visual parallel with the gas chambers...that was awesome! And powerful and interesting enough without the added element of the basterds. And it would have been great to have Landa as a real menace against Shoshanna beyond the scene with the strudel (though it wouldn't have allowed her and Zoller their rather fitting end either...hmm.)


Boy, that was a ramble! I think I had so many thoughts on it because I want to be able to give Basterds an unequivocal thumbs up, and just can't. For me, Tarantino aimed high but didn't quite make it. Loads of good things to be had here, but not his best.

Comments

[pineapplechild]

I was weirdly fond of how the revenge plot ran into the bastards plot. It was kind of like a train wreck, but I found that part of it's attraction. Even the film critic guy dieing so soon after his introduction-- it felt, for all of it's crazy non-realism, really real. People die at plot inconvenient points. Two sets of people decide to attack the same place, and their plots get in the way of each other.

[jacquelineb]

You know, I did actually consider the point you make about how it does add an element of 'realism' to the story - yes, plans do go awry and people have to rapidly compensate because of them. So on that level I can appreciate it as an interesting plot maneuver and nicely, and I think it was partly that I was so into the character it was disappointing for him to disappear like that so soon, but then there is also Stiglitz, who we really didn't see 'in action' except for his rescue. So on the one hand, I think upsetting the audience's expectations isn't a bad thing, but it still bug me. (am I having my cake and eating it too? Perhaps. ;) )