Guest Review

 

For the first time on KritiKal Craig I have the opportunity to post a guest blog! I hope this will be the first of many and that people will inundate me with their reviews of their favourite films! There is a KritiK in all of us!

 

I loved reading it and I am sure you will too, Mr Mitten's review of the fabulous Inglourious Basterds...

 

 

Inglorious Basterds (2009) - Review

Before this film came out in 2009, I had never seen a Tarantino film before. Reservoir Dogs hadn't crossed my field of vision. Pulp Fiction was indeed, a work of fiction I hadn't seen. I had heard of Quentin Tarantino, (I mean... Who hasn't?), but I hadn't seen any of his work. I had heard rumours that he was a mad-cap director bordering insanity, and sure enough, that brief description was pretty much on the money, but mixed in with a blend of genius. Inglorious Basterds is my favourite film of all time, and here is why. 

Not many directors can get away with bending history in the way Tarantino does, with the film culminating in the execution of the entire Third Reich. Hitler is seen with many holes in his face, inside a movie theatre. Just how far can artistic licence take you? In the world of Tarantino, there are no boundaries. The film starts in Southern France, and the quite marvellous Colonel Hans Landa, (Christophe Waltz) approaching a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere and coaxing out the hidden Jews from below the floorboards. The tension in this scene alone is as palpable as walking along a tightrope at 2,000 feet. Its the beginning of what is a cinematic masterpiece, and a quite wonderful performance that would land Waltz an Oscar. After seeing this film 3 times, I would marvel each time at the rising of the temperature in the exchange between Landa and the dairy farmer. The formalities, the cordial nature, followed by the brutal shooting as Landa invariably works it out.

 

Christophe Waltz as Hans Landa

One girl, Shosanna, escapes. Let go by Landa as he has her quite literally in his sights. Many years later, we find out she is living with a different name in the middle of Nazi occupied-France, running a cinema with her boyfriend, Marcel. At the same time, we discover the group of "Basterds". A group of American Jews, run by Lieutenant Aldo Raine, (Brad Pitt), their sole job is to hunt down Nazis and destroy them. In any way possible. How very Tarantino. As these monsters, (obviously seen as the good guys against the Nazis), devour their way through hunted down Nazis, by quite literally collecting the scalps of them, Shosanna starts flirting with a Nazi Private, Frederick Zoller. A solider by nature, Zoller has become a film star overnight after his "heroic" antics of slaughtering hundreds of Italians from a crow's nest was serialised in a feature-length film. He soon becomes infatuated with Shosanna's every move, ending with Shosanna being invited to host a Nazi movie premiere at her cinema, thanks to the influence of the notorious Joseph Goebbels. The inevitable hate for the Nazis then begins to take shape, as Shosanna and Marcel plot a callous revenge on the Third Reich, who will be attending the film premiere. At the same time, The "Basterds" get wind of the event and plot an attack of their own, resulting in a fateful evening. 

 

Bradd Pitt as Aldo Raine

The way Tarantino uses each scene, (told as chapters throughout the film), to build tension and then culminates each one in a mind-boggling frenzy of action, gunfire and edge-of-the-seat thrills really keeps you clinging on to every single detail. The whole two and a half hours of the film fly by as you are captivated by its very magnificence. Frankly, I can't think of a higher acclaim. For example, an exchange between a British spy, A German spy, (former actor Bridget von Hammersmark) and Nazis in a pub, a scene that lasts a fair while, leaves you without blinking in case you miss a vital part of the conversation. That scene mixes love, as a German private is out celebrating the birth of his newborn son, with pure tension as the spies try and coax information about the film premiere out of an ever increasing crowd of intoxicated Germans. Its a strange mix, and one that the British spy doesn't care for, as the entirety of his cover is blown by just one small hiccup. That hiccup causes the tension to be replaced by pure terror as the place is ransacked.

The end of the film is just classic Tarantino. Sure, Hitler is literally blown to pieces, but the whole Nazi ranks are destroyed by Shosanna's planned fire. If only that were true! 

However, throughout the entirety of the movie, there is one man who stands out as a different class, and as a character, the most complex. Colonel Hans Landa, who speaks four languages, comes across as the most intelligent man in the Nazi ranks, but towards the end, you sense his allegiances change. He escapes the movie theatre, sensing an attack and brings Aldo Raine and one of his friends with him, and begins to bargain their release with a series of honours and accolades for himself. Christophe Waltz's use of language, style and panache throughout the whole film is something to behold, but alas, the end of the masterpiece still sees him having a swastika embedded into his skull. 

You really can't expect anything else from one of the greatest film makers of our time...

 

Quentin Tarantino, up there with the greatest...