One of Tarantino's Masterpieces

Rating: 9/10 (25 August 2013)

It is difficult to say whether this is a film that is in the vein of what one would expect from Tarantino. Sure it has the shameless violence and blood, it has the incredibly outlandish ending, and it also has the very unexpected black humour, but it has also gone in a direction that I at least did not expect to have come out of the mind of Quentin Tarantino. The reason that I say this is because a bulk of the movie is actually in French and German. Normally most filmmakers would have the characters simply speaking English, without the need for subtitles, but then Tarantino is not your ordinary filmmaker. In fact the scene that I believe stands out the most is the scene in the restaurant where the conversation between Goerbels and Shosanna is being translated from French to German and vice versa.
People describe this film as being a fun movie, but I personally would not go that far. I feel that people say that because they really want to like Tarantino, and simply sit through what some would call the boring parts, waiting for the comedy to come about (which it does in this film). However, I feel that the 'boring' parts of Tarantino's films are what makes it distinctive, namely because it not only creates the characters, but actually gives them life.
What also impresses me with this film is Tarantino's use of cinematography. This is something that has differed from many of his other films. In fact parts of this film almost seem to come straight out of a Michael Bay production. For instance, in scene in Winston Churchill's office. The thing that catches me here is the amount of space that it is used. There are only three people in this scene, and these three people are separated by huge amounts of space. In fact, Winston Churchill always remains at a distance from the other two characters. Another scene is just before the final scene where Shosanna is leaning against the round window wearing a scarlet dress, and through the windows you see the same scarlet on the Nazi flags. It is interesting how Tarantino does not actually contrast the protagonist from the antagonist by giving them different colours.
Obviously the black comedy is there as well, particularly since the mission comes to a complete halt when all of the German speakers are killed in a random gun fight in a French bar, and the spy ends up having her leg put into a cast (and the excuse is because she injured herself mountain climbing). I guess that is another aspect of Tarantino's realism (and despite the fact that this film is pure fantasy, the element of realism in the film is extra-ordinary – this once again comes down to the use of language). I guess this is almost a send up of other similar films where the protagonists must come up with a back up plan that ends up working. Okay, it works in this film, but it is so obviously farcical, that we wonder how it happened.
Well, it didn't. In fact the out folding of the plan is still quite believable. They do get caught, and they are interrogated, however we must remember that the war is coming to an end, and the Nazi's are on the losing side. This is why the film 'Nation's Pride' is being shown. It is a propaganda piece highlighting the heroics of a German soldiers who held out for four days against an American assault. Landa knew that the Germans were losing, and going to lose, and he saw this as a way out. However, he did not count on Raine disobeying orders. I guess this comes down to realism again – Landa follows orders because to disobey them means you get shot. Not so with the Americans. He even says that at the end, to which Raine replies 'Naw, I'll only get chewed out. I'm used to getting chewed out'.
Oh, I cannot finish this off without applauding Brad Pitt's performance, but then again, I always applaud Brad Pitt's performance (even in World War Z).