Inglorious Basterds

Movies are important,  they make rules, they identify roles, they assuage or confront our values and beliefs.  That they also, at times, entertain us, is a neat trick; the icing that makes the cake.  What we may identify in real life as 'evil,'  in the movies can be deliciously wicked.  When the moral universe comes crashing down, everyone is susceptible to its charms.  In the book Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor E. Frankl shows that everyone, in the right circumstances, is capable of doing unspeakable things.  Here we have an alternate history played out, where such circumstances can be tested, and the result, despite what the title says, is rather glorious. 

By making this film about the power of film, Tarantino is able to posit very serious questions about the morality of art.  If Leni Riefenstahls' The Triumph of Will asks if good art can be immoral, Inglorious Basterds lives in a universe where morality is restored, but our tastes are still questioned.  Though a major payback of the experience involves some element of blood lust, it is not a simple revenge tale like Kill Bill.  The comeuppance is unevenly handed, and more complex.

While Tarantino uses his style to bold effect, they seem to enhance these themes rather than intercept them.  It recalls and older time, when we could let our fancies wander aimlessly about without being shoe-horned into genre conventions.  The film, while iconic in its own universe, doesn't seem trapped down by any such formula.  It is what it is, and that is not necessarily what one would expect.  Echos of his previous films are here, multiple stories and protagonists; a slow deliberate pacing; and a wandering camera that searches around different rooms and coridors, and sometimes people...think of the fifties diner in Pulp Fiction, or O-Ren Ishiis hangout in Kill Bill.  Here we have a beautiful movie palace.    The scene of  Shosanna  preparing for the film opening is a sensational highlight, but for the most part the film stays reserved, and remarkably grounded.

Instead of overloading us with a barrage of sensations, the film unfolds gradually, slowly developing interest with sudden revelations.  A Nazi officer in a farmers house.  The tension is palpable.  Yes, that's right, actual honest-to-god TENSION.  A lot of modern suspense of horror films, if you forgive the expression, are all money shots.  It's all pay off when nothing has been built up. But getting there is most of the fun.  When we don't know, what is gong to happen is when our minds play tricks on us.  Tarantino teases us with a lot of skill, at times using misdirection, but always a step ahead.  Unlike in Deathproof, which at times  almost seemed like it was stalling, a little bit is revealed incrementally in a way that builds suspense.

The defining and best signature of a Tarantino film  must be the dialogue.  Some monologues seem to go on for pages, and yet, it's delightful.  Smart people, evil people, good people, all sitting around exchanging ideas.  It is, perhaps, the most civilized, and amusing of customs, one wishes for the characters to keep speaking.  It to, is an old fashioned notion, taking the time to actually get to know someone, to understand how they work with the exchange of pleasantries, before getting to the unpleasant but necessary matter of killing each other.

List of inspirations for Inglorious Basterds here.