Who are you calling a basterd?

Rating: 10/10 (2 October 2009)

First of all some general phrases about 'Inglourious Basterds' that every fan of this movie says: great plot, great actors and unforgettable performances (yes, especially by Christoph Waltz), great cinematography and great soundtrack Is that really it? No, there's definitely more to 'Inglourious Basterds' then what was mentioned above, there is something that makes this movie special. If one would want to summarise the whole story depicted in 'Basterds' with one phrase then it would probably be this one: 'Things are not as they appear to be, nor are they otherwise.' But it happens to be that I have a little more to say than one phrase. And so
The great moral of this movie or the great lesson that it gives us is this: our world is not just black and white, it's not the mixture of only good and bad, both 'good' and 'bad' things can be found in everyone and everything, and who is a hero and who is a villain depends totally on your perspective. Don't get me wrong, I am not talking about Hitler; but let's for example take Perrier LaPadite, how should we feel towards him? Is he a hero or a villain? He knows that if he doesn't collaborate with the Germans he and his family will be arrested and/or killed, but the Jewish family will die any way, whether he collaborates or not. And now let's look at a German Sgt. Werner Rachtman who finds himself in a similar position, and yet he shows unbelievable courage in the face of inevitable death. So should we despise him just because he's a German soldier and admire the clownish psychopath Donny Donowitz just because he's a Jew? Hardly. At least in my modest opinion. And then there are Hans Landa and Aldo Raine. I suppose that when trying to understand Landa or to express our feelings towards him we (the audience) should be very careful and we should also keep in mind that there is a very clear line between the actor and the character. Christoph Waltz was absolutely brilliant, but I guess his brilliant performance 'tricks' the audience into liking Col. Landa but if you take a second look at him you realize that no matter what intelligence and sophisticated manners (although Bridget von Hammersmark would disagree) he possesses there is not much left to like about him. As to Brad Pitt's Lt. Raine, we must like him because he's an American soldier fighting for a great cause, and so we forgive him for lacking both charm and manners and and then we take a closer look at him too. And what we find is that there is not much to like about him either, because in reality Raine is much more similar to Landa then it might appear at a first glance. Take the interrogation scenes for example: both are quite similar (Hans Landa interrogating the French farmer/ Aldo Raine interrogating the German sergeant), the behaviour of both Landa and Raine is actually identical: the things they demand – point where the Jews are hiding = point (on the map) where the German positions are; the things they offer – give me information and we'll leave your family alone = give me information and will let you go; the way they behave – actually both Landa and Raine behave rather friendly only Landa seams to be more glamorous and sophisticated; the way they both deceive their victim/captive – they both start a seemingly innocent conversation (rats and hawks and squirrels = what are you going to do after the war) and than –bang! – either kill the hiding Jews or carve a swastika on a soldier's forehead. As to the movie's title I've read in some other comments that it's inappropriate because 'the Basterds are given so little time in the movie', well, to my mind it depends on who are you calling a 'basterd'; it seams to me that none of the characters is innocent, everyone is a basterd: the French farmer who (although under the great pressure) betrays the Jewish family, the German actress who betrays her country (yes, betrays, for as Landa points out she only spied for the British for money), Shoshanna who threatens to bury an axe in a man's head and kill his wife and children, a somewhat shy and innocent-looking German sniper and yes , of course , Col. Landa, Lt. Raine and the (original) Basterds, Gestapo major and all the rest of German soldiers, Goebbels and Francesca Mondino, Hitler, but 'that goes without saying' and those people in the audience who jeer while the 'bad guys' are being scalped...
I would also like to say a couple of words about the so-called historical inaccuracy. Well, first of all, this is not a historic movie and it does not pretend to be one. The thing is, when we see a movie/read a book like 'The three musketeers' or something similar with a lot of (intended) historical inaccuracies we have no problem with that because, obviously, it all happened a long time a go, so who cares? The problem with the 'Basterds' is that the story is set against the background of WW 2 and this is still a rather sensitive topic – you can do whatever you like with the French kings but you cannot touch Hitler. I personally find this rather odd.
Now to draw up the conclusion I'll have to repeat something I've already said before: we are too accustomed to take things shown in the movie idealistically, meaning we always tend to classify, to label facts, people, ideas, etc. as either good or bad, right or wrong and we keep forgetting that there's always the other side of the coin, the other perspective