Food for thought

Rating: 7/10 (7 January 2010)

I wasn't impressed with this movie after seeing it the first time. The middle part was quite boring and some of the dialogs went on and on. Normally I don't watch movies more than once, but for some reason this one kept me thinking and I enjoyed it much more the second time.
However, the most fun I got from this movie was by thinking about it and trying to get into the director's mind. One of the things I noticed was the constant use of the upstairs/downstairs-perspective in the movie. Starting with the first scene in which Landa interrogates the farmer while Jews are hiding underneath the floorboards. Later on, the Bastards are watching the prisoners from above, Shosanna talks to Zoller standing on a ladder etc. etc. People downstairs are generally being killed from high positions (Zoller shooting many soldiers from the bird's nest in the German movie, Bastards killing from the boxes in the movie theater). It is better to be a hawk in the sky than a rat downstairs in this movie . (Remember the Landa-speech in the first scene!). No surprise that Bastard-Leader Raine is very upset that a meeting has been set up in the basement (downstairs) of the French tavern. Nothing good can come from fighting in a basement! And so it didn't. Nothing good comes from going to the movies either I must warn you (everyone involved in the movie business gets killed, a 'subtle'-Tarantino hint; even the flammable nitrate film is lethal.) You might be better off watching this one at home. Another important theme is interrogation. Tarantino spends a significant part of the movie showing us all kinds of interrogations, from subtle questioning (mostly Landa) to aggressive encounters involving torture and blackmail (mostly Raine). It almost seems as if Tarantino is trying to make a study of the 'art' of interrogation. Usually it involves trying to establish the true identity of the person(s) questioned. And most of the time there is a language problem, another big theme in the movie. All of this talking and dialog is sometimes a little bit boring but some of the scenes are really hilarious. My favorite was the interrogation of Hammersmark and her "Italian" escorts with Landa making fun of them and sometimes laughing in their faces. Clearly Tarantino is, through this scene, making fun of the poor knowledge of foreign languages of American people. One question keeps puzzling me. Is it possible that Hans Landa himself is a Jew, trying to hide his true identity by playing a fanatic Nazi? If Landa is a Jew, It would explain his statement in the first scene in which he claims to be an excellent Jew Hunter, because he can think like a Jew. It's also explains his surprising behavior at the end, becoming a turncoat and passively and actively cooperating with the assassination of the Nazi-leaders, out of nowhere really. Nothing before indicated him being anything else than a charming but ruthless and convinced Nazi follower. Except for one thing actually, he allowed Shosanna to escape from the dairy farm and later on in Paris his behavior suggested he might have recognized her (offering her milk, forgetting a question). To be honest, I have no hard evidence to support my Landa=Jew-claim. It is a fact however that all the other main characters in the movie are at some point hiding their real identity (Shosanna/Mimieux, Bastards playing German soldiers or Italian movie makers etc. etc.) or are actors themselves. That makes 'identity confusion' an important theme of the movie (remember the game they play in the French Tavern-basement). So isn't it likely that the lead character (Landa) is also playing a role and hiding his Jewish identity? Well, I guess this is a question that only Mr. Tarantino himself can answer. One thing is for sure, the Landa-character (excellent role by Waltz) is hardly a typical German/Nazi. OK, maybe I am getting carried away with this. Tarantino has directed an intriguing film which can be viewed on many different levels with many great scenes and great acting. On the downside I didn't feel connected with the characters in this movie. This became very clear to me in the scene in which Shosanna and Fredrick killed each other; their fate didn't move me emotionally at all. Overall, this movie is a great joy for the brain and for the eye, but leaves the heart untouched, a problem with many Tarantino-productions I must say.