If You Don't Like This, You're All A Bunch Of Basterds!

I love Quentin Tarantino movies. Mostly. Resevoir Dogs is his most grounded and intense work which is why I still think it's his best. Pulp Fiction brought some his best characters and dialogue kicking and screaming onto the silver screen. The two KIll Bills are a funny and thrilling delight, as are his scripts for True Romance and From Dusk Till Dawn. Death Proof was evidence of his stunning ability to deconstruct a movie genre and create something unique from its ashes. Only Jackie Brown, a movie I like but don't adore, fails to excite me.

For Inglourious Basterds Tarantino plays with the World War II mission movie, and in the process, has less action than any other behind-enemy-lines movie in memory. But, since this is motor-mouth Quentin were talking about, thats quite alright thank you. QT structures the movie into 5 acts, gradually introducing his characters, situations, motivations and objectives. Each act contains long, talky scenes (in English, French German and Italian) that consisely communicate the plot...much like a play. Each scene is expertly crafted to build suspence, while littering proceeding with memorable occurances and dialogue, which the cast interprete with style.

Melanie Laurent (a younger and french Uma Thurman clone) get the main storyline, as the vengeful Shosanna, and also the least dialogue of the main ensemble. Hers is a thoughtful, considered performance. Everybody elsae is living in Quentin's world and act accordingly. Pitt is charming and hilarious as the Basterds leader, Aldo Raine, all swagger and broad southern accent (his attempt to speak Italian nearly had me in tears). It's a broad characature but it fits in perfectly to the enhanced reality of QT's WWII. He's matched in a truly original turn by Christophe Waltz as the antagonist of the piece, Col. Hans Landa. It's both chilling, daft, animated and brutal...and Waltz makes it all seem grounded and part of the same complex character (do I hear Oscar buzz?) He comes across like a young Jerome Krabbe, times ten! Michael Fassbender as stiff, upper-class officer Archie Hicox is the other standout, coming across like a 40's movie star reincarnated...David Niven reborn if you like.

Thematically there's a lot going on in Basterds, and I suspect it will take multiple viewings (like Death Proof) to uncover the subtext. But it's obvious from the outset this is a celebration of the power of cinema; about it's power as a propaganda tool, to bring people together and it's explosive power to change (this happens almost literally as the cinema screen explodes with Shosanna's vengeful projection laughing manically). It's like a post-modern fairytale; extemely aware of it's own existence as a movie. It starts of with a "Once upon a time" chapter heading and even has a cinderella slipper moment.

There's also a lot going on about the need for a reputation amongst others. German sniper Zoller is a war hgero reveling in his new found status as movie star. The Basterds themselves actively seek to spread infamy throughout German ranks. Hammersmark wants to maintain her movie star image while Hicox is obviously proud of his ex-movie critic career, boasting at one point of his being in a famous movie. Landa relishes and promotes his Jew Hunter nickname as it stikes fear into his prey while, initially, Shosanna is the only player who seeks anonimity as she tries to hide her Jewish heritage. It's only at the climax as she deliberately projects her home-movie onto the cinema screen that she too wishes it to be known that she is responsible.

Basterds stands as QT's best photographed and designed movie to date. It's a testament to the structure and pacing of the movie that, after two and a half hours, you want to see more...but that happens with most QT movies. It's only in the third act, as an adult Shosanna is reintroduced that the pace slackens...but it's necessary and not for long as Waltz arrives to spice things up. I have a feeling that this may not go down too well in the States with it's revisionist history, talky chapers and heavy emphasis on subtitles. However, the international feel may boost it's overseas chances at the box office, especially in Europe, where the respect to that area's languages might pay off. Let's hope it does 'cause I'd like to see the half written prequel to this glourious baby.