Inglourious Basterds – Oui Si Yes!!!

13/09/2009

I was very much interested to seeing this movie right from the day it released in Indian theatres. It released in India on 2^nd October 2009. But I was able to see it only today. It was worth the wait. Saw the cinema in Fun Cinemas, the same place where I saw Up. But this time I was not alone, I was with Praveen.

I should say this is not really a very serious movie for the amount of gun shots and blood spatter shown. It is a movie where the dialogue and screenplay has its own sense of humor which was really very enjoyable.

The movie has a screen play which is scripted as if it was reading a novel. With chapters and names for each chapters. Actually the movie has 5 chapters.. I think.. In this way the 2½ hour long movie has its grip on you till the end.

The last chapter or the climax sure has its own high class suspense and leaves you with only one question as what is going to happen next? And I should say the movie ends in the way it should end i.e. ends in the way you want it to be.

Some scenes are filmed in a way our own Tamil films would be filmed. One example is the scene where Eli Roth or “The Bear Jew” comes out from the dark tunnel with a base ball bat hitting the floor. I remembered our own heroes’ so called "entry scene". But here in this movie it was one of the Basterds. The scene after that is a scene where he beats the Nazi officer to death with the base ball bat. The movie has its own blood oozing scenes but is always justified and I feel it would look the same in real when something similar happens.

Coming to the story.

It is a complex story which can’t be told in a small paragraph. But I surely will try to summarize. A group of 8 Americans (called as Basterds by Germans) try to kill as many Nazi officers and take their scalps as a winning ritual. Reason is to teach them a lesson for what they are doing for the Jews. Most of the American solders are Jews and the leader for them is Aldo Raine who is played by Brad Pitt. This makes Hitler really angry and a pain in his ass. And there is one more person Shosanna who is trying to kill Hitler and important Nazi officer during a premier of a Nazi war movie. Shosanna lost her family to German bullets and she alone escapes from “The Jew Hunter” and lives under a new identity in France running a small cinema theatre. How their plans get executed is what forms the rest of the movie.

Some interesting scenes to watch for..

• Look out for the character of Christoph Waltz as “The Jew hunter”. Right from the first scene he is simply superb. He some how cracks every thing from finding the Jews hiding below the floor to the plan which the Basterds put to kill Hitler. The scene where he has a chat with Shosanna and also eats his sandwitch with cream is one of the best. He portrays his character really well. Look out for his acting. I was really surprised to see that such a talent was not used in movies before.
• The English slang with which Brad Pitt talks through out the movie.
• The character played by Til Schweiger as Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz as an angry Jew. You may have a smile during the scene in the basement bar. But he is sure very angry in that scene. The other scene is where he sharpens his knife and there is a conversation between another American soldier.
• Scenes in which Hitler is shown i think all the scenes except the last one has a bit of humor in it.
• The style with which the movie goes scene by scene. The director Quentin Jerome Tarantino is sure a one kind of a person. He has his own unique way of making films which sure is very very stylish.

My favorite dialogue from the movie is

“I know this is the silly question before I ask it, but can you Americans speak any other language than English?”

My view

More men would like this movie than women. Anyway whom ever interested in Nazi stories it is a must watch and also for people who like seeing a movie in a new style in which they have not seen before.

4.5/5 is my rating.

If you have seen this movie please comment on what you liked in this movie.