Quentin Tarrantino Wins World War II

Rating: 7/10 (12 January 2010)

I won't spoil the story for those who want to see it by revealing the ending but "Inglourious Basterds" is typical Quentin Tarantino, spilling more blood per frame than "The Saving on Private Ryan," which recreated the D-Day assault. Tarantino's story is complete fiction -- a squad of Jewish soldiers landed in occupied France for the sole purpose of killing (and scalping) every Nazi they can find. The scalping is a Tarantino touch that subtracts from what little credibility this film otherwise possesses.
It is nicely acted, however. Not by Brad Pitt. His Lt. Aldo Raines is preposterous. I'm sure he's fulfilling Tarantino's script, however, so don't hold this entirely against him. The fine acting comes from Melanie Laurent as a beautiful young Jewish woman who owns a movie house in Paris,Diane Kruger as a German actress who is working against the Nazis and especially, from Christolph Waitz as a Jew-hunting Gestapo colonel.
The finish is a whiz bang -- the least true, however, of any of the film's many untruths.