Best film of 2009

Rating: 10/10 (31 December 2011)

I hate violence. Over the years, I've avoided Tarantino's other films for purely that reason. Yet I watched this one for an artist's interpretation of history, a personal passion of mine. I was floored. Everything about this film is perfect. I knew of his particular use of music, his snappy dialog, and general film-making style. I was not prepared for how this film would affect me. I'll break it down in the following way:
VISUALS- While much of the film involves simply conversations between little groups, it still looks beautiful. The lighting in the first scene is especially stunning. Being a period piece, the colors are somewhat muted, the costumes autumn hues, with bursts of brilliant crimson at the right moments.
SCRIPT- I knew prior to viewing this that words were the director's strength. Excuse the pun, but I didn't know how that would translate into other languages. With a film half in English, and the rest in German, French, and Italian, it remains funny, witty, poignant, and crackling throughout. Actors shift seamlessly between dialects, for both humorous effect and key thematic moments. I could write volumes on the script alone. It's that incredible.
ACTING- Everyone's brilliant of course. The cast is huge, the nationalities varied and every actor makes scenes their own. Thanks to the brilliant lines, they all get to shine. The two standouts are Christoph Waltz and Melanie Laurent. While Melanie's Shosanna is restrained and her arch towards vengeance both powerful and quiet, Christoph's Hans Landa seeps onto the screen, attacks and probes at the viewer, and infects them. I laughed with and at him, hated him, was fascinated by and loathed him. He's just that good.
MUSIC- A soundtrack makes a film for me, and this did not disappoint. German standards from the 40s mixed with Bowie and vintage Ennio Morricone, perfectly accentuating a line or scene. It's playing in my house or in my ear at least once a week.
THEMES- We manipulate, we love, we hate, laugh, misinterpret, destroy. Evil begets further evil, and hatred breeds further hatred. Moments of pure beauty or jubilation are contrasted with sudden and extreme violence, one balancing the other, each necessary for the other's existence. All these are universal truths, and film the universal language. Tarantino addresses all these, and more- is violence the answer, if it is justified; how do you define a hero; and who ultimately writes history. War is merely a backdrop to tell a story, probably told before, of heroes and heroines, villains and tyrants, victory and defeat. In the same vein, film is merely a backdrop to tell a story, hopefully NOT told before. Inglourious Basterds is film making at its grandest, where the players, the words, and the visuals move in perfect harmony. I've seen it a dozen times over, and with each viewing I catch a new snippet of dialog, a sly look, a sneaky sight gag. Could not all history be re-worked in such a magnificent style? But I digress. Where were we?