"I Think This Might Just Be Your Masterpiece"

Rating: 9/10 (10 May 2019)

Tarantino does it again helming a virtuous war / retribution film. There are so many unforgettable scenes. Hans Landa's interragation of the French farmer, Perrier La Padite is unparalleled. Lt. Aldo Raine's recruitment speach to the basterds is hilarious and brutal. Shosanna's vengeance film premiere is poetic. Lt. Archie Hicox's confrontation with the Nazis in a bar is intense. Its impossible to pick a favorite. This film has excellent direction, screenplay, cinematography, settings, costume, score and acting. All the actors involved deliver realistic and superlative performances. In particular Waltz, Laurent, Fassbender and Pitt are commanding. The plot revolves around Lt. Aldo Raines whose mission is to seek retribution against the Nazis by putting together a squad of eight Jewish soldiers known as the "Basterds". The Basterds join forces with an undercover agent to take down the Third Reich. Their plan is set to take place in a theatre owned by Shosanna who is seeking to avenge the Nazi's slaughtering of her family. The plot is clever, funny, vengeful, gritty, intense, violent, poetic, unforgettable and has one of the most cathartic endings on film. The last dialogue in the film is delivered by Sgt. Donny Donowitz when he says to Lt. Raines, "I think this might just be your masterpiece". This viewer believes Tarantino was being symbolic and referring to the film as his masterpiece to date. The film is certainly a memorable and sublime work of art.