Blog #9

Inglorious Basterds (2009)

Directed by Quentin Tarantino

The film, Inglorious Basterds, by Quentin Tarantino, tells multiple stories that come together in the end to defeat the Nazi regime. This film was interesting because it was historical fiction mixed with a comedic and violent twist. The story is set back in 1941, and opens “Chapter 1” with one of the main characters the “Jew Hunter”, Hans Landa (an SS soldier). Landa is accompanied by his soliders and raids a dairy farmer’s home who was hiding a Jewish family. There are two key parts to this first scene. One of them being the girl, Shosanna, who fled the shoot out. The second is that Hans Landa drank the farmer’s milk when he entered. Unexpectedly, Landa meets Shosanna later in the film. When the two sit down to have a private conversation, he orders a glass of milk relating back to the dairy farm she used to live on, proving he remembered who she was. There are many aspects of this film that are provoking. The keys to the story are the hidden clues tossed in that resurface as the plot goes on. I enjoyed this because the audience becomes an investigator and an accomplice in the plan.

The audience gets the point of view from each mini story involved. We see the Nazi’s (Hitler/Gobbels), the Basterds, Bridget von Hammersmark, Shosanna and Fredrick Zoller’s perspectives. All of these stories eventually line up and sometimes conflict with one another. A notable scene that had three stories conflict was the bar shoot-out scene. Von Hammersmark invited a few of the Basterd’s to an underground tavern to consult their plan to kill off the Nazis. Unfortunately, there were other Nazi soliders in the bar drinking and picking up on the notion that these weren’t European citizens. There was a shoot out and almost everyone died except one lone Nazi solider and Von Hammersmark. Aldo Raine (lead Basterd) saved her from the scene but she left too many clues (her shoe and autograph) to be identified by Hans Landa. This then leads to Hammersmark’s demise at the end of the film along with everyone’s except Landa, Aldo and Utivich’s.

Personally, I enjoyed the end of this film. I can see why many would not, due to a lot of the lead characters dying and it ending in the demise of everyone, but I thought it was creative. Aldo remained undefeated and Landa wasn’t able to get away with his lie. I liked how the Nazi soliders knew their actions were wrong and did not want to be correlated with the regime even after the war was to be over. The Basterd’s made them pay for that by engraving them with a swastika on their foreheads which felt like sweet revenge for not just the characters but also the audience. I really enjoyed this film, it might have been the best we have watched all semester.