Film Review: Inglourious Basterds

Stars: Brad Pitt, Mike Myers, Diane Kruger, Christoph Waltz, Mélanie Laurent, Samuel L. Jackson (narrator)

Directed by: Quentin Tarantino

Plot: The movie set in Nazi-occupied France begins with SS officer Colonel Hans Landa (Waltz), nicknamed 'the Jew Hunter' discovering a Jewish family hiding under the floorboards of a farmhouse and killing them with only the daughter making an escape.
Aldo Raine (Pitt) puts together the Basterds, a team of 8 Jewish-American soldiers who specialise in killing Nazis. They leave their mark by gruesomely scalping the dead and marking those left alive. Despite the title the film isn’t all about them and as a consequence they aren’t on film all that much.
We are then moved on a few years later where in Paris we see Shosanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent) the daughter of the family killed by Lander, has created a new life for herself under the new identity of Emmanuelle Mimieux and is now the owner of a cinema which is to host the unveiling of Joseph Goebbels' new film ‘Nations Pride’ starring a German Soldier besotted with Shosanna/Emmanuelle. This night brings the film to its climax with each of the characters intertwining.

Funny scenes: There are plenty of funny moments but one in particular was the German officer(s) playing the game 'who am I' where they have a card with a famous persons name stuck to their head. Pitt and Waltz’s characters are very funny. Waltz is brilliant at portraying evil and hilarious all at the same time.

Look out for: Mike Myers, I didn’t realise it was him until about 5 minutes into this scene. See if you can spot him!!

Unfortunately: you might find some of the scenes a bit lengthy but thankfully, for me, Waltz was a joy to watch. His cool, calm and collected voice just reels you in and you just love him. You know you shouldn’t but you do. The film moves from French to English to German (even a little Italian) so can get a bit confusing and what I find with subtitled films is that you miss a lot when you are staring at the bottom of the screen for half the film. It was also a bit too gruesome in some parts for me but hey you might like that sort of thing.

The film manages to poke fun out of history but also stirs up emotions. Fictional characters are mixed with real life historical figures including Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels. The film contains plenty of blood and gore and one scene in particular that looked like something out of Scarface.

Verdict: Excellent. I love Tarrantino films and I was not dissapointed here. This has to be his best one yet. It's not at all historically accurate but its not a documentary after all!! Waltz was the shining star of the film for me.

9 out of 10!!!!