Inglourious Basterds

Quentin Tarantino’s latest film takes us to France during World War II to follow a group of Jewish-American soldiers led by Brad Pitt known to the Germans as “The Basterds.” The purpose of this elite band of soldiers is to strike fear into the hearts of the Germans by scalping and brutally murdering any German soldiers they come across. When the British send in one of their operatives to join the Basterds, their mission has a new objective; one that could end the war.

I loved the opening scene and first chapter to this movie. Even though it was a horrific scene about the Germans looking for Jews being hidden by a family in France, it was the pace of the scene that kind of throws you off. The deliberate nature of the dialogue and the slow pace at which the scene goes, puts you on edge wondering when something is going to happen. The end of the scene shows a side of the German SS officer you wouldn’t expect to see during World War II. Perhaps it was an allusion to what happens at the end of the movie, where two of those characters in the opening scene are brought together.

The music that was selected for Inglourious Basterds was brilliantly picked. Opening the movie with Fur Elise by Beethoven was especially a favorite music selection of mine as I, like Alex, the young narrator from A Clockwork Orange, am a fan of Beethoven. Every musical selection just seemed to fit each scene perfectly, as well as the work of the camera angles and movements of the camera.

There may or may not have been a lot of symbolism in this movie. I never know, because English class was always such a bore for me. Who knows if the authors of the novels we read in school actually intended for certain events to specific items were put in there for a certain reason? Anyway, the end of the movie gives us what could have been some symbolism of a woman in red, a certain film clip going up in a fiery blaze, with the woman cackling. I always take notice when there is a woman in red. Thank you to The Matrix.

Inglourious Basterds was definitely in my top five movies of the summer. Quentin Tarantino is a brilliant director and knows how to keep you engaged in the story. If you have never seen a Tarantino film before, I suggest you brace yourself for a little over-the-top violence and brutality in some scenes. Two scenes in particular where it seemed a little unwarranted. That is Tarantino’s style, so you have to expect that.

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