Inglourious Basterds (****)

Directed by: Quentin Tarantino
Starring: Brad Pitt, Mélanie Laurent, Christoph Waltz, Eli Roth, Michael Fassbender, Diane Kruger, Daniel Brühl, Til Schweiger
Seen: October 23rd, November 4th and 23rd, 2009

**** Out of ****

Five movies, four of which are personal favourites (I haven’t seen the left-out one). Reservoir Dogs, Jackie Brown (the left out one), Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill (released as two movies but actually really only one), and now Inglourious Basterds. Quentin Tarantino sure knows how to craft a fantastic film, from the snappy and very involving dialogue to the brief but brutally violent and well-choreographed action scenes to the of-course-this-is-the-perfect-song soundtrack to the brilliantly crafted story; Inglourious Basterds is a powerhouse movie that does not allow the viewer a moment’s respite even during scenes of pure dialogue. Where the usual trajectory of thrillers/action movies depend on dialogue and events building up to a pay-off in the form of an over-elaborate action scene, Tarantino utilises action scenes or sudden violence (and it is quite brutal) to give brief breathing spaces before the next scene of intense conversation between characters starts reeling you in again.

Lt. Aldo Raine (Pitt) is the leader of the Basterds, a group of 8 Jewish-American soldiers with one mission, killing Nazi’s. They exist to strike fear into the heart of the German, and they do it fiercely, scalping and dismembering Nazi’s wherever they go. Shosanna Dreyfuss (Laurent) operates a movie theatre in Paris under the name Emmanuelle Mimieux four years after her family was murdered by a small group of German soldiers under the command of Col. Hans Landa (Waltz), and she only tolerates the Germans using her theatre for the premiere of Joseph Goebbels’ new propaganda film in order to burn it down while they are watching said film. The Basterds hear of the guest-list for this premiere, and deciding they want in on the action (and acting completely separate and unknowingly from Dreyfuss), they plan on bombing the cinema during the premiere, slipping in as special guests of German actress Bridget von Hammersmark (Kruger), who is also a double agent for the coalition forces. Of course things don’t always go as planned for everyone, and complete mayhem ensues.

I was absolutely mesmerised by Inglourious Basterds, glued to the screen for every one of its 153 minutes. The entertainment value usually associated with Tarantino’s vivid dialogue was amplified by the tension usually connected with a holocaust type story – when and how will the German catch/figure out the Jew? This gives for an extremely taut viewing experience, and most definitely one I’d like to repeat a few times, and as soon as possible. Inglourious Basterds is the kind of movie we all continuously hope to see when we walk into a cinema, but as we all know that promise is rarely delivered upon. Inglourious Basterds delivers, in all the right ways…

I believe this just might be Tarantino's masterpiece...