Inglourious Basterds: A Tarantino Movie Festival – Editorial

Inglourious Basterds is a movie about a fictional US guerilla outfit that has the sole purpose of killing Nazis and spreading fear in the Nazi ranks. Which they do so successfully so that the Führer (AKA Hitler) loses his composure while talking about them. And like any Tarantino movie, there are other stories like the Jewish survivor Shoshanna, Colonel Hans Landa or the Jew Hunter. All these stories take their time and way to reach a common point. An exclusive screening of a patriotic movie starring a war hero which is held in the theatre owned by Shoshanna.

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I could bang my head to find words to explain how good Inglourious Basterds is. Or I could just say this movie is one of the best works of Quentin Tarantino. Set in Nazi-occupied France during early World War II, the story weaves through the characters while checking all the necessary components of a classic Tarantino movie. Like great dialogues, impeccable screenplay, cat-mouse games played by the evil, yet charismatic villains.

The movie is divided into chapters, and as each chapter entertains you more than the last, you’ll be left with the satisfaction of vengeance by the end of the movie. Shoshanna gets her vengeance by burning down her cinema with hundreds of high ranked Nazis inside, the Basterds get their share by killing the Nazi Propaganda Minister, and Hitler.

We see the pride of the Nazis, truly believing that they are the supreme race of the Earth and have such disregard for others. Their ideology becomes clear when the Jews were compared with rats. Threatening to rape the children of a farmer if he doesn’t help them to find and kill ‘Enemies of the State.’ On the flip side, we get to see the Basterds having fun while killing and torturing Nazis. And the Basterds make it bloody, Tarantino style.

The reason this film gives such a rush to me is the motives behind the actions. The other Tarantino movies have power, money, love and other fickle things that motivate the characters. But Inglourious Basterds is about Vengeance and Nationality. Vengeance for the oppressed and Nationality for the oppressors. Both such powerful drivers that make the movie so compelling.

I understand that the Kill Bill series also has vengeance but it doesn’t have a counter-motive as Inglourious Basterds do. Think about it. Anyone can do anything in the name of the country and get away with it. Armies have the highest honour of all. Death of a soldier is mourned by the millions. They get the kind of respect that others have to spend a lifetime working for. And we all know how powerful vengeance can be. Just ask John Wick.

When such powerful motives are driving the characters, in the supervision of a person famous for the blood spilling, spine chilling barbaric violence, what you get is INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS.

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Inglourious Basterds serve the right amount of blood with a satisfying end for every audience. If one race has to be picked that suffered most throughout the recorded history, Jews will be on most lists. They have suffered slavery in Egypt, massacred in holy wars and less than 100 years ago, they were shoved into gas chambers in millions.

For me, this movie is as close as a fantasy of vengeance on Nazis. The powerful performances by the cast will draw me again to watch this movie no doubt about it.