In the history of mankind, World War II remains as one of the darkest periods ever experienced. This global conflict has caused immense destruction and suffering, taking a long time for humanity to heal and live in peace again. Not only did millions of people lose their lives, but the environment also suffered extensively due to the use of nuclear weapons. World War II, being a ruthless event, has been a frequent subject in movies. Inglorious Basterds is one such movie that depicts a group of soldiers assigned to hunt down the Nazis. Let’s dive into the movie’s synopsis and review.
Released in 2009, Inglorious Basterds is a movie that falls under the war and drama genres, produced by A Band Apart, Studio Babelsberg, and Visiona Romantica, and directed by Quentin Tarantino. The movie stars Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Diane Kruger, Eli Roth, Michael Fassbender, and Melanie Laurent.
The movie is set in 1941, where Hans Landa, a Nazi leader during the French occupation, is assigned to eliminate Jewish people. One day, while interrogating a farmer named Perrier, Landa demands to know the whereabouts of the Dreyfus family in return for sparing Perrier’s life. The troops accompanying Landa open fire, causing the death of the entire Dreyfus family, except Shosanna, the daughter, who manages to escape.
Three years later, Aldo Raine, a Lieutenant in the American military, recruits Jewish soldiers to join him in France. Raine intends to make the Nazi soldiers feel terror by carving a swastika symbol onto their foreheads after killing them. The team, known as The Basterds, comprises of Donny “The Bear Jew” Donowitz, Hugo Stiglitz, and Wilhelm Wicki.
Shosanna, in Paris, pretends to be Emmanuelle Mimieux and owns a cinema. She meets Fredrick Zoller, a Nazi sniper who has killed 250 allied soldiers. Zoller stars in a Nazi propaganda film and pressurizes his superiors to premiere it in Shosanna’s cinema.
Landa meets Emmanuelle to verify that her cinema can accommodate Nazis and their leaders. Emmanuelle and her African heritage boyfriend, who is also a cinema projector technician, plan to burn down the cinema during the film’s premiere, where Hitler is also anticipated to attend.
Archie Hicox, a Lieutenant, is assigned to lead an attack on the cinema that Hitler is supposed to attend. He and his team work alongside Bridget von Hammersmark, a German actor who is working as a spy. While discussing their attack plan at a night club, two Nazi officers realize that they are not Germans, causing a shootout between the Nazis and the allied soldiers, leading to the injury of Wilhelm and Von Hammersmark. Raine arrives and tortures Von Hammersmark, whom he believes framed Hicox. After learning the truth, Raine continues the attack mission to the cinema with Donowitz and Omar Ulmer. They meet Landa at the cinema, and it remains to be seen if their plan to assassinate Hitler is successful.
The movie has an all-star cast that is perfect for their respective roles. Brad Pitt plays the dominant protagonist, Raine, while Christoph Waltz is the antagonist, Landa. Diane Kruger portrays von Hammersmark- the mediator of The Basterds’ plan to execute Hitler. Michael Fassbender, who has the least screentime among the movie stars, does an impressive job of pretending to be a Nazi soldier.
In true Tarantino fashion, the movie’s pace is relatively slow, where the characters engage in long and clever dialogues, which do not only provide depth to each character but also build the story, which reaches its climax in the third act. Although the movie does not have that many brutal scenes, whenever it does show one, the brutality is developed to the fullest.
To conclude, Inglorious Basterds is an epic war movie that is full of thrilling scenes, which is further supported by an incredible cast that works together to make the story as realistic as possible. For anyone who enjoys movies about World War II, this is undoubtedly a must-watch movie.
