Beyond awful

Rating: 1/10 (23 August 2009)

The film looks like it could be fun, if edgy. Bradd Pitt has a magnetic screen presence. Quentin Tarantino is multi-talented even if line between effect and sensation for its own sake does not seem clearly drawn for him. The notion of the film's plot was reasonably amusing. So there was no hesitation in buying tickets to go and see it. Now I admit I cannot comment on the whole film. I managed to stay in my seat until the scene where a German officer is murdered with a baseball bat. The convention of showing rampant sex or brutal violence on screen or stage has always been justified by the notion that it was essential for the integrity of the plot. Fair enough. A sensible notion! Then why am I so angry? The reason is simple. The portrayal of the murder of a courageous German officer was of course a piece of film. It was not real. Nobody was hurt. However, the mentality which could regard this scene as entertaining and even in part comical is simply wicked. It is no better than making a film of the horrors of Al Ghraib prison to titillate and entertain us. The parallels are there. The US troops in that prison were the bad guys supposedly representing the good powers in what was viewed as evil Irak. Pitt's gang are bad guys on the good side in fictional Germany. My family and teachers were involved in mopping up the horrors of Nazi Germany. I was brought up with first hand accounts of people who had been on the ground and experienced the evil and despair created by those evil folk. My fury is the worse because it is fired by a scene in a commercial film which actually made me feel some sympathy for the Nazis. It seems that there is no awareness as to how dangerous this sort of production is. Those few who produce this work may become rich and self indulgent which can be satisfying, at least in the short term. However, no spirit of decency or generosity could possibly have been involved in the production of this obscene piece of cinema. I'm fairly sure this is not a direction of behavior, culture, art or politics which will lead to any lasting benefit. We need decency, mutual respect and a generosity of spirit if we are to survive as a species. Without it we will self destruct in a slow orgy of internecine beastliness.