Basterd within the Basterd

Rating: 9/10 (24 August 2009)

I thought this was brilliant. Tarantino is a wonderful stylist. He captivates with perfectly framed shots, rich colors, a choreographed camera eye. These scenes dance around like a leaf in the wind, slow, steady, then swooping in a direction you couldn't predict, much like the story does.
He seems to be getting a lot of flack for his mistreatment of history. Wasn't "Pearl Harbor" more egregious? Wasn't "World Trade Center"? I think Jews -- and I am one -- will get a lot of pleasure from watching this movie. A lot.
The real genius here though is the crafting of the story. Five acts, each seemingly unrelated until they slowly converge and meet at the end, in, of all places, a movie theater. QT is always self-referential, his films are always self-aware, but this one more than most. The top Nazis are caricatures. Goebbles is a diva with a poodle. Hitler is a guffawing baboon. The film within the film is the type of film that QT is perennially accused of making. So here we are, us, watching these idiots laugh and cry at this moronic movie about empty, brutal killing as we, us, laugh and cry at QT's movie about empty, brutal killing. A slap in all our faces. And it feels great.
Tarantino is the real basterd. He basterdizes history, he truncates morality, he throws away formula, killing off whichever characters caprice seems to want. His morality is cinema. That's his shrine. That's his sacrificial temple where the battle between heaven and earth takes place. The film is maybe 5% action and violence, 95% suspense. Wonderfully crafted suspense. He dismisses rhythm in favor of chaos so you forget what you've been attuned to expect from a movie, and once your eye starts wandering in this wilderness of un-expectation he hits you with whatever he wants.
Brad is the top-billed, but I doubt he has the most dialogue. Waltz is the real star of the film, and behind that, Tarantino the scribe and Tarantino the director.
Behind each movie screen is a pile of combustible film reels waiting to consume us. QT has lit the fire behind this one. I loved it.