Inglourious Basterds

Tarantino was so confident with this film, the last words were really, "You know somethin', Utivich? I think this just might be my masterpiece." Inglourious Bastards is easily my favorite Tarantino now. Every scene feels important and special, because of the amount of time Tarantino takes for the string of tension to snap. most of all, everything in this film builds up to the climactic cinema burning scene, which wouldn't be half as good without the masterful first 2 hours of the film. As I was watching, I realized I don't truly know what this film deeper meaning is. I guess I was always so intrigued into what I was watching that I forgot to really think about what I was watching really meant. The Nazis in this film are portrayed much different from the usual tropes. Instead of being these dark forces of evil, they are instead portrayed as cartoonish and small, many times being portrayed as having an unwavering loyalty to the Nazi party. Propaganda I thought was a key theme of this film, and it really is shown with how the Nazis give names, and spread information about the Basterds group. The use of propaganda in the film is especially interesting to me when Tarantino looks at the Nazis as not evil as part of their nature which some films tend to portray Nazis as. Instead, Tarantino looks at Nazi’s evil as a product of propaganda and misguided spirit for their country. That isn’t to say that a pride for your country isn’t a good thing, it just goes to show how that patriotism can lead to unwavering devotion to a movement. Hans Landa on the other hand is a different breed of Nazis altogether. What truly makes his character so terrifying is he is not, unlike every other nazi we see, devoted to his country and its intentions. Landa is merely a man who masterfully carries out his job and feels the benefits when the war is on his side, while choosing to migrate to the allies when he sees the war is lost for Germany. Landa is immune to the propaganda of Germany, which makes it all the more interesting that he himself is used as a tool for propaganda, being called the Jew hunter. What Landa enjoys isn’t his country’s so called power and virtuousness, but his own. Amazing movie, so amazingly satisfying 10/10