Inglourious Basterds Review- By Michael Carlisle

Title: Inglourious Basterds
Year: 2009
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Country: US
Language: English

World War Two films have come and gone in the History of Cinema. Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan captivated and shocked us in the late 90's, Rome:Open City was an Italian Neo-realist masterpiece that made us weep for every character involved. Lately the "controversial" Quentin Tarantino has been on a re-writing History binge, in 2009 he dived into WWII history with Inglorious Basterds...and it fell flat.

In Nazi-occupied France, young Jewish refugee Shosanna Dreyfus witnesses the slaughter of her family by Colonel Hans Landa. Narrowly escaping with her life, she plots her revenge several years later in a movie theater with Nazis in attendance. The event catches the attention of the "Basterds", a group of Jewish-American guerilla soldiers led by the ruthless Lt. Aldo Raine.

Perhaps this is just my view, but I feel that if a Director makes a film about World War Two they should tread very carefully. Over 60 million people died from this war, 6+ million died in the Shoah and many more people were affected by the loss of their loved ones. Inglorious Basterds shows that Tarantino couldn't care less about history. It's shameless in its unrealistic collection of mindless and cartoon-ish violence.

The key characters in this film are very one dimensional. They maintain the same lack of characteristics one typically sees in an Arnold Schwarzenegger film; angry but unable to connect emotionally with the audience. They are simply quite half-assed.  You don't even have to be a great writer to make Nazis utterly despicable, but Tarantino can't even do that right! The acting, especially by Brad Pitt (who is great in Coen's Burn After Reading) is horrendous and wooden. It's a film known for Waltz's performance, but after a few of the character's monologues I started not to care. Col.Hans Landa is a terribly written villain that is not the least bit frightening.

In conclusion, I don't even think Tarantino knew what he was trying to make. A drama? A satire? a parody? A serious film? Regardless, the tone of the film is not consistent with the written material and it is not even remotely funny. His blend of old cinema and new cinema just does not work in Inglorious Basterds. The modern score tears down the illusion of a period piece. There is not a redemptive quality to Tarantino's picture; while I usually say "at least it's entertaining" I wasn't even entertained this time. Tarantino fans like to say he's "different" from other Mainstream Hollywood directors, but Basterds was an exercise in pandering to the masses. Piss on it! 0,5/5