One of the reasons for Quentin Tarantino's continued commercial success is his ability to deliver the unexpected, defy conventions and serve up surprises to his audience.
Sometimes this doesn't work
(for me it was Death Proof, Jackie Brown and Kill Bill Vol 2, but your mileage may vary), but more often than not he hits a home run and, boy, does he deliver with
Inglourious Basterds!
It may be set, primarily, in Nazi-occupied France during the 1940s, but it is isn't really a war film as you might expect -
Inglourious Basterds is more an espionage thriller with moments of extreme violence thrown in.
And yes, when the violence occurs, it isn't pretty - but then there are some things we
do expect from a Tarantino flick.
Something else we expect is cool dialogue and, again, he doesn't disappoint. Of course, this being a period film his usual reperoire of pop culture references are rather limited, but the rhythm of the language (
whether it's French, German or English) carries you along.
This is a film that mixes black comedy with high tension that twists your gut as a moment is drawn out to its inevitable conclusion, yet pulls no punches either with its very clear delineation between the "good guys" and the "bad guys".
Opening with the line "Once Upon a Time..." we know this is a fairy story, a heightened reality with no room for shades of grey, that eventually takes us into the realms of alternate history.
In
Inglourious Basterds, Tarantino gives us two parallel stories, heading for the same climax, even if the central players never actually meet.
The main dramatic story follows a young Jewish-French woman, Shosanna (Melanie Laurent) who escapes the slaughter of her family and flees to Paris where she inherits a cinema from her aunt and uncle.
There she reluctantly befriends a German war hero, Private Zoller (Daniel Bruhl) who has become the star of a
propaganda film about his exploits, that Goebbels (Sylvester Groth) eventually decides to premier at Shosanna's cinema.
Meanwhile, in the other story strand, Aldo The Apache (Brad Pitt) is leading his terror squad of Jewish soldiers - The Bastards - behind enemy lines, striking fear in the heart of the Nazis with their brutal tactics.
We actually see very little of The Bastards' brutality, it is all hearsay and legend; a reputation built on the terrified words of the few - scarred - survivors of their attacks.
Eventually, they are contacted by an English OSS agent about the planned movie premier in Paris that will attract all the top brass of German High Command. The Bastards' assignment is to get inside and blow the place up.
This is a film driven by character, and the actor's are certainly given the time to develop their roles. In the hands of a lesser writer (and director) this could have dragged, but Tarantino's ear guarantees that the movie's two-and-a-half hour duration is never a chore.
He also brings out top class performances from all his actors, especially Christoph Waltz as Colonel Hans Landa (
aka The Jew Hunter, an incredibly well-drawn character, oozing evil superiority) and Brad Pitt as Lieutenant Aldo Raine.
Even Eli Roth (
director of Hostel etc, whose acting roles are usually limited to background cameos) gives us an impressive turn as the baseball bat-wielding 'Bear Jew' Sgt Donny Donowitz.
Inglourious Basterds is a propaganda war, pitting the reputation of The Bastards against the reputation of the German war machine, as encapsulated in the movie-within-the-movie that is the story of Private Zoller.
By the end of the film, there is no doubting who triumphs, besides the audience.
As it was a Bank Holiday today - and thus the "official" time to do some DIY - Rachel spent the afternoon painting my shed and the tool shed with green protective, waterproof paint.
