Inglorious Basterds is a war film directed by Quentin Tarantino and starring Brad Pitt, Eli Roth, Daniel Bruhl, Christoph Waltz, Michael Fassbender, Melanie Laurent, Diane Kruger and a lot of other people.
In the midst of WWII, the US drops a small contingent of Jewish soldiers into France, led by Aldo Raine (Pitt), for the express purpose of striking terror into the Nazi soldiers' black little hearts. "Aldo the Apache" quickly develops a reputation, ambushing, slaughtering, and scalping Nazi soldiers.
Meanwhile, Col. Hans Landa (Waltz) of the SS has made his name as the "Jew-Hunter," tracking down Jewish refugees in occupied France. In the opening scene he tracks down a family hiding at a farmhouse and has them shot, but one of them, Shoshana (Laurent) escapes. Some years later, she's running a theater in Paris with her lover Marcel (Jacky Ido), and finds that because of the unwanted attention of Nazi war hero Fredrick Zoller (Bruhl), her theater will be used to premiere Zoller's biopic/propaganda film for the German high command, including Hitler himself (Martin Wuttke).
So, of course, there's a big plan to blow the damn thing up, masterminded by British intelligence with British solider Archie Hicox (Fassbender) at the forefront, including German movie star/double agent Bridget von Hammersmark (Kruger), and the Basterds. And everyone goes completely off the rails, but the plan kinda works, Hitler gets mowed down by Donny "Bear Jew" Donowitz (Roth) before the place burns down thanks to the fire Shoshana set, and Landa weasels his way into American citizenship...but not before Aldo cuts a swastika into his forehead.
I kinda feel like this is one of Tarantino's better films. Sure, it's a little long, but it actually improves on a second viewing in that regard. Waltz won an Oscar for his portrayal of Landa and absolutely earned it, though I think Melanie Laurent deserved some recognition, too. Tarantino doesn't generally treat his women very well, so that's a thing, but if any movie deserves to get brutal with its characters, it's a WWII movie. Bruhl, too, has a great performance as a Nazi who spends most of the movie in "nice guy" mode and then shows his true colors at the end.
The asides narrated by Samuel L. Jackson and the little on-screen titles don't always work, but that's a small thing in the scheme of things. The movie works best when it just lets the actors work, and Tarantino doesn't get all wanky with things, which is actually true of most of his movies.
Gotta say, for a variety of reasons, this movie feels really fucking timely.
My Grade: A-
Rewatch value: Medium
Next up: Misery
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