Inglourious Basterds

If there is one specific director that does not need media coverage to help his films do well, It's got to be Quentin Tarantino. Fortunately for us, the Inglourious Basterds ads were among the best and most clever I have ever been witness to. Like most Tarantino films, this one is segmented into very different stories that all tie together eventually. I had to watch this 2 and a half hour film in the theater and I was quite the preacher when it was done. I told everyone how magnificent it was, and they better not miss out. Christoph Waltz won his Oscar for his role as Col. Hans Landa of the SS Third Reich. He may be the most deserving winner I have ever seen. From the opening scene where he calmly sniffs out the Jews at a dairy farm. He speaks multiple languages and smokes one hell of a beautiful pipe. The promo posters of individual characters labeled like "Brad Pitt is a Basterd" were awesome. The story starts out with Col. Hans Landa doing his job as a Jew Hunter. He is the number one man for that job and he revels in it. He loves the hunt, the challenge, and the power. Then we have a group of American Jews sent to Europe to kill Nazi's (Nat-zees) and strike fear into the Third Reich. Lt. Aldo Raine (Pitt) heads of this group of rag tag guys called Basterds who don't give a crap about anything other than killing and scalping Nazi's. As good of a group as this is, there are two characters that set apart from the rest. The Bear Jew (Eli Roth) as he is called uses a baseball bat to beat info out of the Nazi's. Then there is Hugo Stiglitz (Til Schweiger) who is a German prisoner who is busted out by the Basterds for his willingness to kill his own people. The film is really about killing Hitler of course and the sub stories are how this all comes about. Bridget Von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger) is an actress and an ally to the Basterds. She has the connections to get into the right places. The soon to be Magneto (Michael Fassbender) in X-Men First Class makes a good appearance as one of Hammersmark's contacts. The Basterds are always on the lookout for a fresh scalp and they make up the bloody portion of the film. A young theater owner and survivor of Hans Landa named Shosanna is the key element to getting all the Nazi players in the same place, while Hammersmark is in charge of getting Aldo and his men inside the German-heavy theater. At this point they must become actors themselves. They must play like the are Spanish film crew members and when they have to speak, it is absolutely priceless. I love how fictional this movie is, and when it's over you will wish this was how it went down...ya know, instead of alone, in a bunker with his one testicle, and a single bullet. I have said it before and I stand behind it. This is Tarantino's best film. Pulp Fiction has the cult status + 17 years under it's belt, but Basterds really shows everything this wonderful director is capable of. 

NBM rates Inglourious Basterds - A Cinematic Work of Art