Inglourious Basterds (2009)

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Starring: Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger, Eli Roth, Christoph Waltz, Mélanie Laurent

In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a plan to assassinate Nazi leaders by a group of Jewish U.S. soldiers coincides with a theatre owner’s vengeful plans for the same.

The film starts in 1941, with ‘Jew Hunter’ Col. Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) interrogating Perrier LaPadite about a French Jewish family ‘who disappeared’. When Perrier admits he is harbouring the family, Hans spares his life, but kills the family – all but one, Shosanna (Mélanie Laurent), who manages to escape.

Years later, Shosanna – now going by the name of Emmanuelle Mimieux – owns a cinema. When German sniper war hero Frederick Zoller (Daniel Brühl) meets Shosanna, he becomes infatuated with her. Frederick is the star of a new German movie and he manages to convince the director to premiere the movie at Shosanna’s cinema.

Everything revolves around this movie premiere, but the film sure do take its time getting there. With some scenes dragged out, the film is unnecessarily long (two and a half hours). Despite this, I was interestingly enough never bored or tempted to use the Forward button.

There are many characters to keep track of. Christoph Waltz is the film’s main antagonist, and he is excellent as usual. This character allowed for many intense and suspenseful moments. Brad Pitt stars as one of the protagonists, Lt Alto Raine, who hunts and kills Nazis. The British plans an attack on the Germans once they’re all in the cinema, but there are a few unexpected twists and events along the way. Shosanna herself plans to burn down the cinema in retaliation for them killing her family.

‘Inglorious Basterds’ is a very well made film with a satisfying ending. I actually enjoyed it more than expected.

‘Inglorious Basterds’ earned $321.5 million on a $70 million budget. It received 306 award nominations, winning 134 including the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor (Christoph Waltz).

Would I watch it again? Maybe.