"Basterds" is a prime example of misleading marketing. First, as Dad-of-Solipsist has pointed out, all the film's promotion would lead you to believe that it's a Brad Pitt movie. Of course, it IS a Brad Pitt movie--in much the same way that"Precious" is a Mariah Carey movie. Pitt is certainly in the film and memorable as far as he goes, but his character, Aldo Raine, is hardly the main character. For one thing, Raine is utterly, unapologetically, and obviously intentionally two-dimensional. He first appears (about 20 minutes into the movie) as a cocky, ultraviolent Nazi-hunter, and by the end of the movie we come to know him as. . . a cocky, ultraviolent Nazi-hunter. Not that there's anything wrong with that: Some of our best friends could be ultraviolent Nazi-hunters. But, frankly, the part could have been played by anybody (though we're sure Tarantino and the film's producers were more than happy to have Pitt's box-office cache to hang the film on).
The film's main villain, the Nazi Colonel Hans Landa is more fully-developed than Lt. Raine. Played by Academy Award winner Christoph Waltz, Landa is gleefully homicidal in his hatred of Jews but more than willing to abandon ideology when it is in his interest to do so. The character with a true "arc" is Shosanna Dreyfus (Melanie Laurent), a Jewish movie-theater owner in occupied France. The sole-survivor of a family killed by the Nazis, she becomes an avenging angel--one whose motivations (unlike those of Aldo Raine) are all too clear.
Among the Basterds themselves, the most interesting character is Donowitz, "The Bear Jew," played by torture-porn director Eli Roth. The Bear Jew is the most graphically violent of Pitt's crew of Nazi-Hunters, but Roth provides one of the movie's "realest" moments when he (SPOILER ALERT!) kills Hitler during the film's climax. The look of sheer hatred in his eyes is one of the movie's most memorable images: For all the film's escapist fantasy and humor, this look reminds us--if only momentarily--of the true horror and evil behind the fictional events.
The other way that the marketing of "Basterds" is confusing is that the advertising would lead you to believe it is an action movie--"Kill Bill" with Nazis. In fact, with the exception of the climactic scene--a typical Tarantino grand guignol--the film is really more a series of one-act plays. Structured as a series of chapters, the film begins with what is essentially a dialogue between Hans Landa and a French farmer whom Landa suspects of sheltering Jews. The centerpiece of the movie takes place in a bar; the plot of this chapter literally hinges on dialogue--specifically, on the suspicious accent of an undercover "Basterd."
(Digression: We would love to get a report from a native German speaker about the suspicious accent; to us, all the German speakers sound basically the same. EOD)
(Additional Digression: Another interesting thing about the movie is how much of the dialogue takes place in languages other than English: German, French, and even mangled Italian. One wonders if it could have been submitted to the Academy for consideration as Best Foreign-Language Film. EOAD)
We enjoyed the movie, but we can't help but wonder if moviegoers felt betrayed when they bought a ticket to a Brad Pitt shoot-'em-up and were treated instead to suspenseful but chatty thriller.
I love your description of the film. It is on point! As far as the film marketing goes, if you watch "Entertainment Tonight" or other TV talk shows, you know what to expect to some degree. The film is unmistakably Tarantino.
ReplyDeleteSome random thoughts anent the above: A: Brad Pitt is a fascinating case of movie stardom. Except for a handful of films such as the "Ocean's" franchise, Pitt has an abysmal track record both at the box-office AND in terms of the quality of his product ("Meet Joe Black", anyone?). And, as with those Oceanics, it's dubious as to how much HIS participation added to the proceeds or proceedings. Yet, movie star he remains. B) There was no need for the spoiler. The point could have been made without it, and the ending is one of the great black humour moments in film history. (and, not to put too fine a point on it, what else does Roth do in the picture EXCEPT act insane?) C) Yes, it is a Tarantino picture. And, yes, it is certainly worth watching and even re-watching for any number of reasons. BUT, ultimately, one must concede that it is a very choppy, sloppily made, film that, were it not for our knowledge that its moments of genius are planned,(ie. if it were NOT made by a proven talent like Tarantino... or if we didn't KNOW it was made by such) would be dismissed as a quirky, but ultimately unsuccessful, attempt.
ReplyDeleteAll we would add to Anonymous's comment is a clarification: Yes, Eli Roth is "insane" throughout the movie; the point, though, is that in the above-mentioned scene, he seems far LESS insane than at earlier points, when he gleefully clubs people to death. The shooting of Der Fuhrer is NOT insane: It is an example of pure malice, hatred, vengeance.
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