Quentin Tarantino’s WWII epic, it’s actually quite
good. In some ways it’s a bit
overindulgent, but it has charming characters and enough wanton violence to
make it all work. I made it a point to
see it in the movie theater when it came out, and when it came out on Blu-Ray I
also made it a point to buy it. Good
thing, as this version has two bits which are “…very interesting….”
First is the “full” “Stolz der Nation” (“Nation’s Pride”),
the movie-within-a-movie about Zoller, the incredibly annoying German sniper
(Daniel Bruhl) who chases after Shoshanna, Melanie Laurent’s character. I say “full” because it’s really only about
10 minutes long. But it is fun to
watch. Did I mention I have that same
Mauser 98K he uses? Well, not that exact
rifle, but the same model. Made in
Austria in 1944. Anyhow.
Second is a feature about the original 70’s film. The director got a bit part in this movie, as
an audience member. It gave me just
enough interest to rent it from Netflix and watch it. I’d think they could have included the entire
film, but once you see it for yourself, you’ll know why.
It sucks.
First, the original.
Spelled “Bastards”. It’s another
poorly made 70s WWII film like “The Dirty Dozen”, “Force Ten From Navarone”,
etc. A ragtag team of American soldiers,
all disciplinary cases for various reasons and NONE of them even remotely likeable
or sympathetic – one even has a mustache and long hair, typical for 70s films
where the actors have contemporary grooming out of place in the 1940s - wind up
on their own after a German plane machine guns the MPs escorting them. They make an initial attempt to escape to the
Swiss border, with the help of a German deserter, until they run into a band of
French resistance fighters joined up by an OSS officer – a colonel – who
parachutes down and winds up commandeering this group for his mission: to hijack a German train with the newest V2
rocket. So these shitty soldiers wind
up doing some good after all. Whoopee. Watch it ONCE out of curiosity and do NOT
buy the damn thing. I’m glad I didn’t.
Back to QT’s version.
Eloquent, charismatic, yet menacing Hans Landa, an SS
officer known as the “Jew Hunter”, flushes out Shoshanna from her hiding place
in rural France. Oh, thank you for the milk. She escapes and winds up running a theater
in Paris which has been – how conveniently! – picked to premiere “The Nation’s
Pride”, a propaganda film about a German sniper – still only a PFC despite his
exploits – Fredrick Zoller (Bruhl).
Since all the big VIPs of Nazi Germany, including Goebbels, Goering and
Hitler, will be at this premiere, it’s a good opportunity to end the war early
with a bang. This is where Aldo Raines
(Brad Pitt) and his misfit team of Jewish “bastards” come into play. Landa arrests them, but then – cleverly
realizing that Germany probably WON’T be winning the war – persuades Raines to
allow him to negotiate a deal with his superiors which will put Landa somewhere
cozy in the US after the war and not in front of a firing squad, the most
likely outcome for an SS officer who made a career of killing Jews.
As you might have heard, Hans Landa steals the show. Here’s what I find remarkable. Several of QT’s actors are the real
thing. Christoph Waltz (Landa) is
Austrian. Diane Kruger (Bridget Von
Hammersmark) is German. Daniel Bruhl
(Zoller) is half German – his father born in Brazil - and speaks fluent German. Michael Fassbender (Hicox) (better known as
the “young Magneto” in the X-Men films) is half German, half Irish, and also speaks
fluent German. The Gestapo guy even
remarks, expressing his skepticism, “I
can’t quite place your accent.” And Til
Schweiger (Stiglitz) is also German. Hell,
even Mike Myers is here, as the British officer who briefs Hicox on his mission
(I think he’s pretending to be Austin Powers’ WWII era ancestor). Really it’s an all-star cast, and everyone
really does a spectacular job. Bravo.
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