Must be in my top 5 movies ever

Rating: 10/10 (15 March 2010)

The first time I went to the cinema to watch it with my friends, I was not a huge Tarantino fan. I have seen Pulp Fiction and kinda liked it, but that's it - it was a good film for me, but not at all the best I have seen. I also liked the World War 2 topic - all the books, films, games etc. have always interested me. To be honest, I did not know what to expect.
What I saw just blew my mind. This film gripped me from the first seconds and never let go. The scenes, the characters, the dialogues just changed each other and each one of them seemed even better than the last. I have no words to describe the spectrum and intensity of emotions that overwhelmed me - fear, tension, laughter, and joy mixed into a strange feeling of awe and bittersweet joy, which haunted me for days afterwards and which still haunts me whenever I watch clips from the film, listen to its soundtrack or read about it.
Personally, I have always thought that a good plot and a message (or a moral) is needed for the film to really be good. Don't get me wrong, the plot is good and unpredictable, but it is very simple and could be told in about an hour, to be honest. The message? Well, there is none, at least I did not get it. But the other things in the film make up for that, and give you the best cinema experience ever.
The filming. As usual for Tarantino, the film is stunningly aesthetic and beautiful. The colours, the faces, expressions get stuck in your brain. The characters. Should the film have been called as it is? I don't know. The basterds themselves only play a secondary part in the film. However, everyone does. It is a wonder how there is no main character in this film. Quite possibly, the man who is the main character is Nazi colonel Hans Landa, whose presence is always felt even if he is not here. The characters are interesting, lovable, and developed to the extent that one feels to know them personally, especially when you understand the context which determines their actions. The jokes are fresh and funny - the guys speaking Italian is just wonderful, as is Landa's reaction to Ms. von Hammersmark's explanation how she hurt her leg. The music is brilliant. I adore when the music fits with what you see, and the most powerful scenes with that is the one with David Bowie's "Cat People" and the one with Ennio Morricone's "Un'amico". The romance and love stories are in the background, but their power is still very much felt. The farewell kiss of Marcel and Shosanna, sacrificing their love and lives for the good of humanity, is just heart-tearing. The romantic interest of Fredrick Zoller towards Shosanna is fun to watch. When you see Fredrick trying to reach Shosanna, you still don't know she is with Marcel. And you start wondering to yourself, would he succeed if the circumstances were different?
The film lasts for 2 and a half hours. It felt like 15 minutes. I have never felt time fly by so easily as when I was watching this. Sometimes when you watch a good film, you have to put effort into watching it, and only later you get your reward. Here, you are just immersed.