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.jpg) Quentin Tarantino’s entire career has defied expectations, so I don’t know why his latest film, “Ingloruious Basterds,” has caught me off guard. Just when I think I have Tarantino’s style put into a box, he goes outside the box and creates something that I didn’t expect. I don’t know why I haven’t simply started to expect the unexpected when it comes to his films. Each time I think I have his films figured out, he creates something new, but somehow linked to his other work.
“Basterds” is one of those films. It’s uniquely Tarantino, with the type of dialog, wittiness and violence we’ve come to expect from his pictures. But with “Basterds,” Tarantino defies even my high expectations, creating a more mature and artful film; once again not unlike his other work, but with aspirations to become something more than pulp entertainment. This film has aspirations to become art.
There are several ways that Quentin defies what you’d expect from this particular film. The film is top-lined by Brad Pitt, who plays Lt. Aldo Raine, a Jewish-American solider in World War II who is putting together an elite group of soldiers. Their mission is simple; they are going to kill Nazis. The more, the better. Although Pitt is a major movie star and he’s the major draw for this picture, Pitt occupies less than a third of the screen time. His actions are relegated to the film’s second and final two chapters. Raine can be considered the main character in this film, but his screen time is short.
Instead, Tarantino tells us the story of Shosanna Dreyfus, a Jewish girl who escapes the brutal murder of her family at the hands of Col. Hand Landa. Shosanna is played by French actress Melanie Laurent and she burns up the screen. Laurent creates a character that is both strong and self reliant, innocent and vulnerable. Years later, Shosanna has changed her name and is running a movie theater in German occupied France when it is suggested that her theater become the venue for the premiere of the Third Reich’s newest propaganda film. The film is the heroic story of Pvt. Fredrick Zoller, who is back from his mission and has taken a liking to Shosanna. Zoller is played by Daniel Bruhl as a charming, but flawed man (he is a Nazi, after all).
Shosanna’s one-sided relationship with Pvt. Zoller puts her back in contact with Col. Landa, the man who murdered her family. This causes Shosanna to hatch a plot to help end the Nazi threat in her life. Meanwhile, we have the Basterds. Their reputation is growing among the Third Reich soldiers. They are ruthless, but affective. The Basterds have learned that Adolph Hitler will be at the screening of the new film, as will every high ranking Nazi officer. With this information, the Basterds join an operation that will take out everyone in that theater.
Col. Hans Landa is played brilliantly by Christoph Waltz. The performance is the reason behind the film’s tension which builds from scene to scene. Waltz’s character, along with every Nazi character in the film, always has an ace up his sleeve, ready to strike at any moment. Tarantino’s dialog creates a series of pitfalls which our heroes must navigate around. Since the Nazi’s seem to know the truth about each situation, they seem to be talking and plotting for the sole purpose of trying to make other characters make mistakes. The way which Waltz plays Landa feeds into these situations. When he talks to Shosanna, it’s hard to come to a conclusion; does he know and remember her or is he just toying with her like he toys with everyone?
This is a Tarantino script unlike any I have ever heard. What humor lies in the film is short and sweet, used to break the overwhelming tension that builds from scene to scene. This is a script in which something as innocent as a glass of milk can seem menacing and dangerous. This is a script in which life and death can be decided by the most innocent of small talk. The dialog is also delivered in a manner unlike other Tarantino pictures. In this film, Tarantino stays true to setting, presenting the majority of his film in French and German with less than 30% of his dialog being in English.
This film involves what I would like to call ‘tension breaks.’ Be it violence, humor or just the end of a conversation, these necessary pauses exist to reset and get ready for what happens next. My favorite of which is after a scene where Shosanna and Col. Landa share a pastry. The tension-filled sequence ends with one of my favorite acting moments from 2009, Laurent’s Shosanna takes down her guard and gives us one of the most genuine moments of relief I’ve seen in a film for years.
“Inglorious Basterds” doesn’t stray that far from the Tarantino formula. The violence is sudden and over-the-top, the dialog witty and the style is all Quentin, but he creates a film which is more mature and more accomplished than his earlier works. It’s easily my new favorite Tarantino film, full of great acting and tension filled dialog. This is one of my top ten films of the year.
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