So … here’s a piece of advice: When choosing a movie to see, do your research. I knew Inglourious Basterds was about Nazi “hunters.” I knew Brad Pitt was in it. I knew other people really liked it. I did not know it was Quentin Tarantino, which, to anyone familiar with his work, means a lot (A LOT) of violence.
Don’t get me wrong. I can’t really complain about watching Nazis (Hitler included) having atrocities visited upon them, especially with the ironic twist of the atrocities being visited upon them by American Jews and (later) a black man. I know African-American is the PC term, but this particular character was French, so it’s not really appropriate.
Anyway, the acting is fantastic. I may not agree with most of Brad Pitt’s politics, but the man is seriously talented. There were only a couple of other actors I recognized — I don’t keep up on the latest Hollywood stars. Sorry. But I will say every last one of them did a fabulous job in this movie. I was impressed.
There were parts (especially the first “chapter”) that tugged at my heart and almost had me in tears. I was glad there weren’t any specific references to the Holocaust, after reading both The Book Thief and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society recently, which both touched on that particular act of human evilness.
It was funny in many parts. Even some of the violence was funny because the victims actually deserved it.
I felt a little disappointed at the end. I felt that Tarantino sacrificed some golden plot opportunities in order to fit in more bloodshed. But if you can stomach the shooting, burning, beating, etc., (keeping in mind 95% of the victims are Nazis) it’s certainly worth seeing.
Tarrantino is an ass.
wait a minute, you’re glad there weren’t any specific references to the holocaust???
wouldn’t that make the Jews who were beating up on the nazis look like bullies if there’s no context to the reason why they were beating up the nazis?
Tarrantino is a jerk.
Well, they talked about Hitler killing Jews, but it just wasn’t in-your-face like it was in those books. Those books gave me nightmares. I didn’t like that.
Tarrantino gives me nightmares.
I was actually surprised at Pitt’s incredible acting ability in this film. And perhaps the film assumes a certain amount of prior historical knowledge.
The whole premise of the movie is established during the first scene in the French farmhouse.
I agree that Brad Pitt is fabulous, but I think Tarrantino should have left the Holocaust alone. I think the movie is pretty sick.
I don’t like watching the gory scenes, but at the same time, it was kind of nice to see Hitler get what he deserved (even if it wasn’t real).
And the movie was definitely powerful. It’s been five months since I saw it, and I still hear, “Au revoir, Shoshana,” in my head sometimes. That line alone made that movie.
But, like Schindler’s List, it’s a movie I can’t sit through a second time because of the emotions it stirred.
The funny thing is, I never saw Tarrantino interviewed before. I saw him on Leno last week and watching him, I just don’t see that man making this movie (or any others he’s done). He just seems so jolly and light. I guess he gets all his aggression and anger out in film. 🙂
I just watched this movie last weekend and, though I was completely surprised by the violence (really didn’t know what we were getting into) I thought it was and interesting twist on history. As a film it was well done — but I agree that towards the end there were some sacrifices made to up the amount of violence.
Chris wanted to see it again, so we got it from Netflix a few months ago and I had to sit through it AGAIN. I had my eyes closed a lot, but I’m kind of glad I watched the second time. It’s a very interesting movie, for sure. And gratifying in a way.