Don't let the Trailer fool You!

Rating: Null/10 (25 August 2011)

That was what happened to me. I saw the trailer and expected the movie's title to also be the theme. Also, I thought Brad Pitt would have a major part in it. And finally, I was curious about Tarantino's ability to write compelling dialogue in German. And, boy, was I wrong!
Like many other reviewers, I came to realize that the Basterds only play a minor role in the story of the movie and the importance of Aldo Raine is even less significant. The whole of the plot is dominated by the brilliant Hans Landa, which is most evident in the scene before the movie premiere. When Mrs von Hammersmark introduces Aldo Raine to Landa as an Italian friend we hear the SS Officer ramble in fluent Tuscan. Obviously only to test the "friend" for he is clearly not the person he is being passed off as. And of course Lt. Raine, knowing nothing about Italian, barely gets two words out of his mouth.
It makes you wonder why Christoph Waltz won the Academy Award for "Best Supporting Actor", when instead he is clearly the leading actor. And truly, the Austrian makes this movie come to live. Maybe even more so, because he was type-cast as the sinister and devious villain before Tarantino even knew of him.
Nonetheless, I enjoyed the movie with the same sense of seriousness I attribute to all other "Tarantinos" and made my peace with it mid-way through.
Final address to the Writer: Dear Quentin, I will readily endure another half-hour rant about Madonna's hidden agenda, as long as You stick to English. Your style just does not work in German. I don't know why, but that's the way it is.