Inglourious Basterds (2009)

He rewrites history. Tarantino set a story in World War II where the Nazis meet their end by a different means. More interesting than the debate over whether this constitutes historical distortion is the question of how cinematically brilliant that method is. Every line of dialogue carries tension; scenes that are simply two people sitting and talking are more nerve-racking than gunfights. My rating is ★4.5. Across Tarantino’s entire filmography, this is the work where the power of the screenplay is most completely realised.

What it’s about — A Revenge That Converges at a Cinema

Nazi-occupied France. Shosanna (Mélanie Laurent), a young Jewish woman who escaped after her family was massacred by Nazi officer Landa (Christoph Waltz), later lives in Paris as the owner of a cinema. Meanwhile, the Basterds — a Jewish American special forces unit under Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) — carry out a mission to exterminate Nazis in occupied territory. The two storylines converge at a Nazi propaganda film premiere held at the cinema.

Direction — Tension Built by Language

Tarantino’s direction reaches new levels of refinement here. The chapter structure dividing the story, the shifting pace of each chapter, and the approach of maximising the tension of dialogue scenes through cinematography and editing are all exceptional. The mixing of languages — German, French, English, Italian interweaving in the same scene — itself becomes a source of tension. The anxiety of trying to deceive someone in an unfamiliar language is conveyed intact through the subtitles.

Performance — Hans Landa Dominating the Screen

Christoph Waltz’s Hans Landa dominates the screen the moment he appears. That he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor is not surprising in the least. Fluent in four languages, controlling his interlocutors through each, courteous, intellectual — and therefore all the more terrifying as a villain. Brad Pitt delivers a combination of comic and cold delivery in Aldo Raine, and the film bears out over and over that the role suits him.

What the film says — Rewriting History Through Cinema

Tarantino offers a revenge fantasy in this film: a story in which those who were the one-sided victims of history make the perpetrators pay what they owed. That it is not actual history is precisely the point. History didn’t go this way, but in the cinema it can — that is the declaration. It is also a distinctly Tarantinoesque declaration that film cannot change reality, but within a film, reality can be rewritten.

Ratings & reception

TMDB score is 8.2. IMDb is 8.4, Rotten Tomatoes freshness is 89%. The film received eight Academy Award nominations, winning Christoph Waltz’s Supporting Actor alongside them. It is considered alongside Pulp Fiction as one of Tarantino’s defining works.

What doesn’t work

The 152-minute runtime won’t feel long to a Tarantino fan, but some chapters’ slower pacing may feel tedious to newcomers. The way in which real historical events are reframed may also sit uncomfortably with some viewers. There is also a case to be made that Shosanna’s story, if developed further, would have strengthened the film’s emotional finale. Mélanie Laurent’s Shosanna is compelling enough, but the Basterds’ storyline commands more screen time, and her narrative feels somewhat compressed as a result. This is an intentional consequence of the chapter structure, but calling the balance between the two threads perfectly even would be a stretch.

Verdict

Inglourious Basterds proves once again what an extraordinary screenwriter and director Tarantino is. Hans Landa as a character alone earns this film its place in memory. It looks like a war film but is closer to a chamber piece packed with dialogue and tension. Each chapter has the completeness of a one-act play while the whole thing converges into a single story — the structural craft is superb. An unforgettable film.

Recommended for

• Fans of Quentin Tarantino’s style
• Viewers who feel tension in long dialogue scenes
• Those who want a story bold enough to reinterpret history