Wednesday, December 09, 2009

Movie Review: Inglourious Basterds

If ever I saw a 10/10 movie, this must be it.

Quentin Tarantino is a master of drama and action, and this movie is a masterpiece. I haven't seen any Tarantino movie earlier (The Kill Bills, for example!), but now I want to go back and catch every movie, documentary and MMS he ever created!

Set in the 1940s in Nazi-occupied France, the movie tracks the life of a young Jewish girl Shosanna (the very smart and beautiful Mélanie Laurent), who escapes the bloody murder of her family by the Nazi "Jew Hunter" Colonel Hans Landa, and four years later in Paris, plans her revenge. Also in the Nazi hunt are the "Basterds", a group of Jewish-American guerilla soldiers led by the ruthless Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt), whose mission is to kill a hundred Nazis each, in the most blood curling manners, so to strike fear in the heart of every Nazi. And in a thrilling climax, their paths will cross, changing the history of Europe.

Not for the faint hearted, this is a movie that will grip you through every thrilling second, where your heart pounds, not because of gross visuals, but because of the drama evoked by terrifying silence, and calm. Where the final bullet is really a welcome end to the tension.

The movie has some absolutely stunning screenplay - the opening sequence in the French countryside and the confrontation at the tavern are two of the very best.

Brad is wonderful. Christoph Waltz, as Col Hans Landa, will almost make you believe in the conviction of the Nazis! And I can't get over the amazing poise, strength, resolve and pain on Shosanna's face in every scene she's in.

Check it out, buy the DVD, and cherish it for life. This is one movie you cannot afford to miss.

1 comment:

Ray said...

Inglorious is definitely not as good a work as Kill Bill. IB just seemed to a collection of gory scenes with no coherent plot line. Although Waltz as Landa is truly one of the greatest roles I have seen.

If you want to watch the movies from which QT is inspired(and provided you like Old western flicks), watch the Dollars trilogy(a set of 3 movies by Sergio Leone *ing Clint Eastwood) and after those check out Once Upon a time in the west(by Leone again).

Truly awesome , got to have patience though for the tension to build up.