Monday, August 31, 2009

Inglourious Basterds

Take The Dirty Dozen, with a greater cinematic emphasis on the violence, add a few more plot twists and turns, and you've basically summed up Inglourious Basterds.
It's The Dirty Dozen, taken to the next level, and the one after that.

Another master from Tarantino. I'm not one of those who possesses a Tarantino fetish, but I am a fan of much of his works on an individual basis. (For the record: I've never seen Kill Bill, and have no desire to.)

One of the small, cinematic details I appreciate in this film was the depiction of Adolph Hitler, who is never named as such, but you know it's him. Instead of the Hitler we've come to see in most movies, in this one he is presented as not just crazy-mad, but physically unattractive, accentuating the ugliness of his personhood.
We are presented not with a 'Hitler' character, but instead caricature of what we really think about the Fuhrer, and who he was, as opposed to a historical portrayal.
A brilliant detail, in my always humble opinion.

I was a little disappointed in the lack of bloodletting violence, but by the time I realized what I was missing, I was too engrossed in the drama that was unfolding to notice that I wasn't getting precisely what I came for. That's a good thing,really.
Don't get me wrong. The violence and gore are plenty, just a lot less than what I was expecting.

If you haven't seen it (and judgeing by the box office reports, you likely already have), I suggest you do. But leave the kids at home.

5 comments:

my name is Amanda said...

Glad to hear you liked it! I liked the film too...although I had some issues with the story.

Why don't you have any interest in seeing Kill Bill, incidentally? There's definitely some bloodletting violence in Vol I. I actually find Vol I to be mesmerizing (and I'm not a big fan of violence in film). Anyway, no judgement or anything, just curious!

Brian said...

I enjoyed it immensely, too.

I have an essay percolating in my head about the depiction of violence in it, comparing it to Irreversible and A Clockwork Orange. (It may or may not ever get written.) But in a nutshell I think they all make the viewer complicit in the violence happening, which ought to make you squirm a little...but at least QT tends to let us off the hook by frequently reminding us that it's just a movie.

Also the Austrian guy that played the Jew Hunter was spectacular.

Gino said...

amanda: i saw some snippits for kill bill, and tha chick with the machine gun leg was just suspending too much beleif way too early in the film (as in: before i even saw the opening credits) for me to be interetsed.

and to the rest of you: amanda wrote a good review. very good, in fact. she knows her 'movie appreciation shit', if you ask me.
go check her out.

brian: brad pitt was awesome,too. i love his character, and cant see anybody else doing it justice.

but how can you even compare the violence in IR to ACO? totally not the same game.
i saw folks get up and leave during IR, and heard them openly crying during the 'underpass' scene. it was tough to see.

during ACO, most of us were cheering some of it on.

true, two different demographic crowds, and mindsets, but still...

(full disclosure: the former: i did NOT cry, but i did wince a lot. the latter: i was also cheering.)

please, write essay. i need to read it.

Brian said...

"during ACO, most of us were cheering some of it on."

Really?

OK, essay forthcoming...eventually...

Gino said...

but not the rape scene...