Jewish Revenge

Rating: 10/10 (12 October 2009)

If you see yourself a party-spoiler pundit and assume that a "Holocaust Industry" exists, or if you at best (like me) believe the theme of "Holocaust" is just exhausted after a long trail of "Holocaust and Nazism on-screen" movies, you may change your mind after watching Tarantino's "Inglorious Bastards". On the other hand, if every new Holocaust movie is an wake up call for "revenge" for you, you ought to watch this movie. Most people get to know what was the II WW's Nazism and holocaust from the movies. To be sure, these were never reliable sources, however, we owe to these movies our well established twentieth century sensibility to Nazism and holocaust. I am referring here to a long list of movies that helped to shape our symbolic systems. From the Holocaust perspective, when should recall "Les uns et les autres" (1981), "Shophie's Choice" (1982), "Schindler's List" (1993), "the Pianist" (2002), "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" (2008). If Marc Ellis is right, a simplistic emotional attachment to the Holocaust might have been deleterious to the Jewish life in last decades. A slight shift might be found scattered here and there: "La vita è bella" (1997), "Train de vie" (1998). These movies attempted to create more fantastic, unreal narratives for sure, while introducing some unlikely lightness to an audience simply addicted to grumpy and dogmatic approaches to the mentioned events. A third block strikes in the sarcasm key in a riskier and non- politically correct way. Chaplin's "The Great Dictator" (1940), Mel Brooks's "The Producers" (1968) bring a comic aspect to the portray of Nazism and Hitler. But the possibility of a comic portray to revenge against Nazis is only hinted by Brooks in his "History of the World: Part I" (1981). But "revenge" is Tarantino's playground (how is it possible to forget "Kill Bill"?), hence, revenge against Nazis and Tarantino's roads were about to cross at some point. Tarantino delivers the whole enchilada. American Jews revenge their murdered kins and spread terror among German soldiers. Lots of blood. Lots of tension. Lots of irony. The whole Tarantino's formula is there, take it from Kill Bill or Pulp Fiction, you bet it is there. Tarantino dares to change the history books(if you have ever played the "Return to Castle Wolfenstein" video-game you know what I mean!). Full revenge is finally achieved. Full destruction. Some compromise, few half-words. Tarantino brings the good gospel of revenge, the video-game on screen, the ultimate irony, the modern Golem. Tension is released, lots of good laughs. You may even admit to yourself that catharsis was finally performed. But I wonder how after appreciating the "Jewish revenge" on screen, if the Holocaust narrative will retain the same extraordinary mobilizing power as it has been inculcated in our minds and hearts for the last decades. As with any out-of-control Golem, we should probably ask whether it is possible to indulge ourselves in any reflection on contemporary revenge.