Inglorious Basterds

Rating: 8/10 (4 March 2015)

Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Cast : Brad Pitt, Melanie Laurent, Christoph Waltz, Daniel Brülh, Diane Kruger, Jackie Ido, Eli Roth
Director : Quentin Tarantino
Review : Quentin Tarantino brings another masterpiece to the big screen : Inglourious Basterds is an audacious and adrenaline-filled war movie. Above all, the cast is particularly well chosen. The three main characters – The Nazi killer, the Jewish girl and the Jews hunter – are played by Brad Pitt, Melanie Laurent and Christoph Waltz.
The story takes place in Nazi occupied France, early in the beginning of World War 2, when the SS colonel Hans Landa arrives at a farm in the countryside, where he believes the owner is hiding Jews. The owner is indeed hiding a young woman, Shosanna who manages to run away. I appreciated the performance of C. Waltz, who plays beautifully his character: he switches from one state to an other, being either diabolic, ironical or even sadistic and vicious (it is for good reason that he has been awarded an Academy Award and the Best Supporting Actor Award in 2009).
The French Jewish girl –the one who escaped from Landa- manages to obtain a fake ID document and hosts a cinema in the German occupied Paris. A German war hero and movie star falls in love with her and persuades Joseph Goebbels to hold the Premiere of his first movie in Shosanna's cinema. This twist of irony provides the young woman a golden opportunity to seek revenge.
In the meantime, Lt. Aldo Raine, an American Jewish soldier, is the leader of eight men : the Basterds. Their goal is to kill as many Nazis as possible, and Aldo Raine wants each of his boys to bring him back 100 Nazis scalps.
This historical war movie differs from others, mainly because Tarantino mixes both historical events with fiction and humor. Hitler is portrayed in a funny way, he looks ridiculous and he always gets angry and often pounds the tables.
On an other hand, Inglourious Basterds is quite touching, mainly in the very first scene, because of the allusions to the Shoah.
Moreover, this film is very interesting because of the international cast : Brad Pitt is American, Melanie Laurent is French and Christoph Waltz is German, and each of them speaks his mother language, even if they all speak English at a moment or another. Tarantino played the game and has chosen "local" actors, and this is remarkable. We can also notice that this film is less violent than previous Tarantino movies, and this is not a bad thing.