~ Once upon a time in Nazi occupied France ~

Last night as it was pay day I decided to treat myself and my boyfriend to a night at the cinema. As I have mentioned before I do not visit the cinema much but thought it would be nice to do something different. The film we choose was the newest film from Quentin Taratino- ‘Inglorious Basterds’. We have been watching trailers for this film for the last few weeks and we both said it looked really funny. The trailer was fast, loud and attracted your attention straight away. As we got to the cinema the film which has a certificate of 18 was showing luckily in the next half an hour. This gives you time to look at the over priced sweets and drinks that you have to pay for. My boyfriend had a slight disagreement with the cinema staff as he asked for his military discount which they said they didn’t do anymore. I thought that was pretty harsh as they don’t get much as it is and somehow students are allowed it everywhere. Anyway, the main reason I think we choose this film was because of the director. Quentin having a high standard quality to his films and high reputation had brought out this new war drama/comedy. For me this meant that I had a high expectation of the film. It was also interesting that he not only directed the film but wrote it as well so all this had come from his talent.

INFO

Director- Quentin Tarantino- High respected American director who has won over 40 awards for his films. Some of these include- Sin City (2005), Kill Bill Vol 2 (2004) and Pulp Fiction (1994).

Writer- Quentin Taratino
Release Date- 19 August 2009 (UK)
Runtime- 153 Mins
Certificate- 18
Company- Universal Pictures

PLOT

Inglorious Basterds is a War comedy and drama film starring Brad Pitt. It is set within the Second World War when France was occupied by Nazi Germany. The Jews are being hunted and we see many hiding and fleeing the Germans. A group of American Jews known as the Basterds are chosen to enter France and kill the Nazis. They also scalp their victims. The film is shown in parts, which is separated into what the Basterds are doing and the life of a young French-Jewish girl survived a massacre on her family. She hides her identity and runs a movie theatre in Paris.

CAST

There was a great choice in actors and although Brad Pitt was the lead role and eye catcher for the film, it included many other well respected actors. I recognised many of them but couldn’t remember the names but it gives the film a good mixture of talent to work with.

Brad Pitt – Lt Aldo Raine
Melanie Laurent – Shosanna Dreyfus
Christoph Waltz – Col Hans Landa
Eli Roth – Sgt. Donny Donowitz
Diane Kruger- Bridget von Hammersmark
Mike Myers- General Ed Fenech
Martin Wuttke- Adolf Hitler
Michael Fassbender- Lt Archie Hicox

OPINIONS

One thing that puts me off a film slightly is a long running time and I was thinking two and a half hours may be a little long, but I was actually quite surprised. To be honest I did not even notice that it was that long. I had very high hopes for the movie and I think that it was achieved. I came out of the cinema pretty satisfied with the two and a half hours I had been in there for. You know what I mean when sometimes you feel like you have just wasted a few hours of your life on a really bad film. I think it was quite hard because I expected a lot from it and the slight let down would have been disappointing but luckily I didn’t have to worry. The film included everything you could think of which will attract a very wide range of audience even though it is certificated at 18. It is an adult film and I think that this was right for the content used.

The film does not make apologies for anything and I was actually quite surprise with how much they got away with. Taratino shows his comedy and there is no remorse if he offends. You will either love the comedy or hate it but I will be anxious to see what the film receives internationally. There are some negative reviews of this as it can be seen as far fetched and may offend some. It is a violent, dark but a hilarious film. The action starts straight away with some serious sensitive moments. It does touch on some serious events such as the death of Jews and seeing the Nazi Germany take over the French people’s lives. It was interesting to see how the French people dealt with having to live amongst the Germans and dealt with having to be polite around them. I think it will be one of the best movies made this year.

ACTING and COMEDY

The comedy from Christoph Waltz was the best thing in the film and this is shown by the Cannes Film Festival award he received for ‘Best Actor’. His acting was sensational and I loved his character even though he was a high ranking officer of the SS. He was so funny I was in tears after a scene including himself and Brad Pitt. I did not recognise him from anything but he is a fine actor who filled his role brilliantly.
Brad Pitt is his usual great self, with great acting and some very amusing comedy. His over the top Tennessee American accent brings another culture to the film and I thought his character was hilarious.

The performance from Melanie is outstanding too. She is a very pretty woman and even though she plays good eye candy, she develops an amazing character. She acts well with coping with different emotions in the same scene and I think she fitted the role perfectly. The ending was quite surprising for her character and I did not expect the events which happened.

The rest of the cast were just as good and they all get a fun part to play. All of them help with the comedy and have different qualities to make you laugh. Mike Myers did not have a big part which I was surprised at, but it showed another added ingredient to make you giggle. You notice him straight away with his Austin powers grin and accent. In a way thought I think just having him on for a short scene was long enough or it would have gotten too much and slightly cheesy.

DIRECTING

The directing was done spot on which is what is expected from Tarantino. He reminds us how bad the Nazi’s were but in a fun yet crude way. He chooses the scenes carefully to give maximum effect. This is shown when we are introduced to the Basterds. He does not any training scenes or parts before the Basterds were needed this means he is able to show the audience everything about this War and focus on the main events. His style is unique and you wonder how he ever thought of this movie. It is different and is nothing like any of his other films. A new fresh idea. He wrote the film in such a way it includes so much emotion and energy.

FILMING and SETS

Every scene was done to perfection and consists of intense emotion. There are scenes of violence and brutal killing and then it cuts to a fun, entertaining narrative. The visuals were very beautiful with the lovely landscapes around France. The 1940’s look was done well and everything was perfect, the costumes, the background, the cars everything. The theatre was lovely and it did

Pictures of Inglourious Basterds (DVD)

Inglourious Basterds (DVD)

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give a superb French feel to the scene. I loved the little cafes and bars which Shosanna is seen drinking wine in. She does have a very French look to her.

The starting landscapes and establishing shots were beautiful. The farm land in the mountains shows how secluded the family are and isolated from the Germans. The filming was done superbly and I loved watching the difference in each scene. Most of the filming was done in Germany apart from a few scenes from Paris.

NARRATIVE

The story is just brilliant. It has everything, the comedy, the serious points, and the passion of the Jews and some idea of how bad the Nazi’s were during this time. The story kept me feeling involved the whole time and it included some great twist.

What was really nice about the story was that it did not focus on one protagonist. Even though we see the life of a young Jewish girl after she escapes the clutches of the Nazi’s it shows a lot of characters and more sub plots. It was also very nice to see how many languages they added into the film. Even though subtitles are a put off too many including my boyfriend he found it easy to follow and I thought it was the right way to do the film. It gave it culture and passion. You get to see the difference each culture and how they speak. You had so many different accents it was brilliant to see, well spoken English, American, French, German and the tiny few words of Italian from a brilliant scene with Brad. The French was lovely to hear. I have always been a fan of the language and it was nice to see the French culture in film and what it was like to be controlled by the Germans during the War.

MUSIC

There was a nice mixture of music used to give you a different feel for each scene. It gave a variety of classic French, western American and

GOOD POINTS

- Outstanding comedy from all characters especially Christoph Waltz and Brad Pitt.
- The four different languages included to give a variety of cultures and attract a wide audience. You may also learn a little German or French.
- The beautiful scenery and Mise en scene from the 1940’s.
- Great storyline with so much included to keep you interested.

NEGATIVE SIDES

- There are many comments which some may find offensive.
- Only two of the Basterds get to the end and get some development with the Nazi’s which I think more could have been included.
- Violence may be too much for some.

OVERALL

I got what I expected from the film and a hell of a lot more. It was brilliant and defiantly worth a watch. It is fun, entertaining and will have you laughing all the way though. The film is an 18 and this is the right rating. It does include some gory parts that make you cringe a bit and it includes some foul language and crude comments. The scalping is properly the goriest part when you see the Basterds knife away at the Nazi’s sculls. There are always many scenes of people being shot to pieces and killed in quite a horrendous way.

As mentioned before the film is about killing Nazi’s and some may find this too much as there are references to all Germans but saying this, American culture is made slightly fun of too.
However, saying this I have found Germans that enjoyed the film, such as this quote from IMDB site- By the way: I think it's a great privilege to watch the movie as a German - being able to understand everything. And the German dialog is written almost as good as the English.

In my opinion it is a great film I would recommend it. It will properly be a film I will try and find cheap on DVD when it is released. The film is not just entertaining but it is teaches you about culture and the times of the Second World War.

The film has a rotten tomato rating of- 88% which is a very good rating.

- Website- www.inglouriousbasterds-movie.com

Thank you for reading- Blackmagicstar4 * Aug 09 xx