Review: Inglourious Basterds

I have probably more babbling thoughts about inglourious than anyone would ever want to hear. Here’s a quick list of highlights.
SPOILERS ABOUND:
-I loved ‘terds to pieces. On first viewing, it seemed kinda scattered. but then i took my folks to see it a couple days later, and thought it was quite the opposite. Very tight and lean. Wish there’d been another hour where we got to know the main squad a bit better. shrug.
-I think it’s interesting how tarantino seemed to sum up the various nations involved. brits being kinda fallible twats. germans being eagles, but suffering hubris. americans being the classless turds that ultimately “get ‘er done.”
-Thought hellstrom’s (the gestapo dude in the bar) tense questioning was there to present a counterpoint to Hans Landa’s. Not sure what the point there was exactly, except to show that Hans Landa was much better at that game. Better at putting his prey at ease.
-Hans Landa seemed to be very much a Sherlock Holmes (the pipe) or Columbo (already knowing the score before he even ask his first question). In any other time/country he likely would have been a much loved super sleuth. Except for that scene where he strangles the actress. The seemed really weird to me. I guess thrown in to make sure we see he has no heart of gold. So we’re cool with how he is left in the end. Maybe to reinforce the fact that he’s proud of germany to a fault.
– Thought it interesting that when Hans was eating the strudel he said he had a second question for the girl, then stopped and said forget it. put his cigarette out in the cream. bailed. Very vulgar and unlike him (or maybe a sign of his calculating soul. He no longer saw the need to play with her).
I figure this scene serves as the point at which, for some reason, he chooses to go ahead and give up on Germany? … weird scene. Or maybe it is implied that he started everything in motion by letting Shoshanna escape in the first scene of the movie. And in the strudel bit, he didn’t have the heart to wrap it up. hmm.

-Also thought it telling that Landa starts the film saying he loves his nickname but ends it saying he hates it. maybe he’s just blowing smoke all the time? … I think it is implied that by the end of the war he’s just no longer pleased with his position. Tired of being the best (and/or following orders?). … Or probably just lying to the ‘terds because he sees he needs to join the winning side as the war ends. hmm. blah blah.

-I loved how the whole movie seemed to be a series of tense Q&A/interrogations scenes. Different flavors of the same verbal power play between men. leading up to this ultimate movie premiere that catches all these men unawares, put on by a woman.
– Love how you feel kinda bored by the violence that is presented in the Nation’sPride film. Even the star claims he isn’t interested in watching it. And then you get Tarantino’s version of an exhilarating bloodbath. And you can’t help but enjoy. There must be some sort of commentary there, but i hesitate to try and nail it down.
– thought the jewish cinema ghost/spirit projected in smoke of burning Nazis was incredibly brilliant. One of those ‘this image is powerful enough by itself to justify a movie” moments.
– thought the german poster boy soldier who just can’t understand why this girl doesn’t like him was nice. touching/tragic human moment. Mixed with more commentary on german hubris.
– I love david bowie, so that sequence with the Cat People (putting out fire) song was EPIC JOY. for me.
-The jews definitely won this movie in a big way. (finally?) A friend asked me afterwards if Tarantino was jewish. I said, “no, I don’t think so. He just wanted to make the best/biggest revenge flick EVER. So he could say that he had the balls to finally do it.”
-On some level, the whole movie struck me like a statement that “it’s finally been enough time.” (You know, like 9/11 or heath ledger? people say “it’s too soon”). This movie struck me as “look, it was last century. it’s time to have a little fun with it. The nazis are now a joke.”
I went into thinking of a Spielberg quote from the Munich DVD extras. That it was ok to tell holocaust stories, as long as you strove for the truth. In a way Tarantino shits all over the truth, and strives for the wish. I think it incredibly powerful (/daring) to say “you know what, lets stop thinking of jews as weak victims, and champion them as the most dangerous thing for miles.” It’s like it’s own awesome propaganda film. In a good way.

I babble. hard to mull that one over without treading very touchy ground…

In other news:
I read some trivia that the brit operative role was written for Tim Roth, but he backed out in order to make his tv show. (oops?) I think that bar scene would have been INCREDIBLE with Tim Roth growling the lines. Just seeing Tim Roth show up would have made that whole weird scene with mike myers seem much more important. Like, “Ah, here’s a big actor. Things are about to get kick ass” (even though the character was about to fuck up, we would have expected a big/long role from such a performer). Also, I love that the brit dude was basically a total loser that couldn’t carry his weight. I love it when characters just flat out fuck up, without seeming to be a joke. This rather serious failure (?) makes the italian accents that come later seem even funnier.

Annnnd. blah. i’ll stop. basically i loved the movie on many levels. bought the screen play yesterday for more obsessive pondering. weeeeee.
Feel like much more should be written about the movie, but that i’m too scattered to mull over any more tonight.

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