This is truly a love it or hate it movie

Rating: 7/10 (21 March 2010)

Reviews from 0-10 should tell you love or hate hinges on love-hate for Quentin.
There are some in this movie who played their role exceptionally well. People who have never been in war will have difficulty comprehending the imminent danger. I am glad the majority of Americans have not been in a war situation, but that means a great many of them cannot sense the danger building. Especially behind the smiling pseudo-friendly face of the Nazi who portrays Colonel Landa. His behavior when we first see him, made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I felt, and KNEW this was a psychotic, homicidal maniac the instant he began to speak. And I didn't even understand the language! The way he leered at the farmers daughters was a veiled threat suggesting, "You cooperate with me, or all three of your daughters will be raped." My heart trembled for the poor farmer. He knew he had no options. Soldiers outside with machine guns and motorcycles so there was no escape for him. He had vulnerable daughters to protect and no weapons with which to defend them. That Nazi colonel made my skin crawl with his phony, "I'm a nice guy doing you a favor", act. I could feel my heart beating faster with every second knowing he was capable of extreme cruelty.
Brad Pitt does a respectable job of portraying a gung ho soldier who is dedicated to ridding the world of Nazis. He does NOT adhere to the Geneva convention rules for the treatment of prisoners. Some viewers will find themselves cheering for the unsympathetic treatment of what they perceive as ruthless, murderous Nazis. It made me cringe to see soldiers abusing prisoners because that is against everything the US is supposed to stand for but hey, it is a band of renegades bent on raising havoc with the aggressors so it was intended to portray returning evil for evil I guess.
Melanie Laurent does a very believable job of portraying Shoshanna. When she faces Col. Landa knowing it was he who ordered the killing of her family, her fear and loathing barely show through. I sat there expecting her to explode in a rage, pounding the hell out of him and of course he would have shot her. But no, she held it in until he left the room and then she broke down in a most convincing way. Makes me wonder if something terrible actually happened to her that she could draw on for realism. Wow!
Major spoilers follow. Read this AFTER you have seen the movie and decide if you agree with me or it might ruin the whole movie for you.
Some major flaws necessary to the plot.
#1 At the farm: Col Landa would never have allowed Shoshanna to escape, he would have ordered the soldiers to chase her down on motorcycles and get rid of her. Her escape was necessary to augment the irony of the finale.
#2 The meeting in the basement: Lt. Raines foreshadowed the disaster of meeting in a basement. I KNEW it would turn bad but not how terribly bad.
#3 In the basement: When the persistent Major Hellstrom suspected Lt. Hicox of not being a true German they end up with pistols pointed at each other under the table. The Basterd teammate was foolish to aim his pistol at the majors crotch and fire. That started the whole massacre. It would have been wiser to shoot the major in the head. That way he might not have been able to fire a round at Lt. Hicox. They would have had their hands full dealing with the other Germans but the bartender and the woman, Hammersmark, would have been able to assist. It would have been four against four. The basterds might have survived.
#4 Shoshanna: In the projector room, she shot the German "hero" and then approached as if she was worried about him. Maybe Quentin wished to depict her as a tenderhearted woman trapped in a dangerous situation but she should have put one more bullet in his head and she would have lived. I wanted her to live, most people I know wanted her to live. The tormented, brave heroine died. Bah humbug.
#5 Ms. Hammersmark: It was foolish of her to pretend to have gone mountain climbing. Had she made up something more believable such as being hit by a bicycle or falling on stairs in the basement it would have made more sense. Then Col. Landa might have asked her to explain the napkin signed by her and she could have told the truth about giving it to the proud new father before she fell on the steps. That would explain the missing shoe. He was a very shrewd investigator so he may still have killed her just to be safe but at least there was the chance he might have believed her. I wanted her to make it. She was one of the "good guys". There WERE Germans who hated what the Nazis were doing to Germany.
#6 The assault on the theater: It is ludicrous to think all those high officers of the Nazis would be in one place with only a bare minimum of security. The basterds would never have pulled it off with a couple hundred guards watching everybody.
#7 The massacre in the theater: Our heroes manage to kill Hitler and all the high officers thereby rewriting history and ending WWII very early on. They saved millions of lives and the greater part of German cities.
Also that halted the Russian advance and prevented Berlin from being divided. That probably prevented the cold war, the Korean war, and Vietnam. Peace reigned over all the world and everyone lived in prosperity.
Wow, wish to God it had been so.