Inglorious Basterds

Bloody Ambitious, Typical Tarantino

Director: Quentin Tarantino
Release Date: 2009
Rating: 18
Running time: 153mins
Genre: War/Drama
Actors: Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Melanie Laurant


‘Inglorious basterds’, possibly Tarantino’s most ambitious film to date, we see a group of eight Jewish-American soldiers lead by Brad Pitt, drop into Nazi occupied France and begin ruthlessly striking back against the German soldiers. What I admire most about this film is the way that it’s not a historical retelling of WWII, nor in any way factual, but one thing you can say about ‘Inglorious Bastards’ is it’s bloody good cinema!

Despite the majority of the film taking place France and a large proportion of the dialogue being spoken in French, I don’t think this takes any of the enjoyment away from the film. In fact in my opinion I think that Tarantino’s bold move of having the actors speak French and German turned out to be a smart decision as it’s able to make the audience feel like they've been placed in 1944 France, and make it feel that little bit more realistic. One of the things I enjoy most about this film is how it was able to the impact of the Nazi invasion on the French population and moreover, sets the film up for its incredibly explosive climax.  

Due to the film having this multinational cast, it gave Tarantino a chance to work with actors such as the superb Christoph Waltz, a German-Austrian actor who plays the fantastically evil Colonel. Hans Lander, a ruthless Nazi leader who, due to his profession in the film, is nicknamed ‘The Jew Hunter’. Waltz also appeared in the Academy Award winning ‘Django Unchained’ and amazingly well crafted Spaghetti Western that honed in on the controversial topic of slavery. Waltz was able to give a tremendous, yet slightly over the top, performance speaking not just German, but French and English as well, proving just how talented the actor actually is. The write up for this character was so good that Waltz actually went on to win the Oscar in 2010 for best supporting actor which I believed added a lot to audience interest and partly to the films overall success. As well as this we got to see other brilliant performances from actors such as Michael Fassbender (also known for his role in ‘X-men: First class’) and other roles performed Hollywood actors Brad Pitt and Mike Myers. As well as the films narration being done by Samuel L. Jackson who actually made his fifth appearance in a Quentin Tarantino film.

The thing I admire most about Quentin Tarantino, is the way he takes the unconventional people who don’t usually play the role of a hero in typical genre’s of films but transforms them into such roles. In ‘Inglorious Basterds’ we see Shoshanna, a Jewish French girl who flees to central France after her family were savagely murdered by Nazis. In the film Shoshanna evolves into the role of the alternative protagonist who begins plotting her bloody revenge on the leaders of Nazi group who were responsible for her family’s demise. Another thing worth pointing out about ‘Inglorious Bastards’ is the gore which plays a key role in demonstrating the way the basterds like to work. The concept of the ‘Inglorious Basterds’ ties in well with theme of Jews fighting back against Hitler and sets the film up for its astoundingly detrimental climax for the unsuspecting Germans. When the basterds drop into France and we see ‘The Basterds’ take on the Nazis in their own sadistic and brutal ways. Moreover as the film continues we see just how far the basterds are willing to go to bring down German troops. It could be said however that the characters in this film are astonishingly brave but perhaps also recklessly stupid in their methods of counteracting the Germans and consequently this may leave a few audience members slightly confused and perhaps disappointed with how everything turns out.

Nevertheless Tarantino’s effort in creating an audience pleasing WWII drama manages to live up to audience expectations and once again I think the screenwriter/director manages to outdo the creativity he uses compared to previous films he’s done. Despite not necessarily being altogether factual, it certainly manages to create a film that audiences would very much love to see, so it’s worth checking out as long as you don’t mind a bit of blood.

8/10