Why So Blu?

Gregg Infiltrates The Inglorious Basterds

The Inglorious Basterds.  Ah, Mr. Tarantino likes to use shock value not only in his films, but also in his films’ titles.  I have to be honest.  Before I saw this movie and people asked me what it was like (which is a bit odd considering they knew I hadn’t seen the movie at the time), I would tell them that it’s probably typical tongue-in-cheek Tarantino humor with some exaggerated violence.  Oh I was so wrong and oh this movie was so good. 

It takes place in France, circa 1941.  This is where the audience is introduced to German SS officer Colonel Hans Landa.  The very suave yet murderous Nazi has been dubbed the title of “Jew Hunter” by the opposition and you’ll see why once you take your seat at your local cinema.  So if that’s our villain, who’s our hero?

Enter Brad Pitt as Lieutenant Aldo Raine.  Raine is southern boy whose Tennessee drawl is an unlikely pairing with the small band of Jewish American soldiers he is tasked to lead.  Dressed as civilians, the special ops group is sent to France to ambush German patrols and gather what intel they can from their prisoners of war.  Ultimately, the group will find itself with a much more lucrative mission than they could have imagined. 

The film was written brilliantly, courtesy of Quentin Tarantino, and though some of the dialogue does seem to be a bit drawn out (note the film’s 153-minute runtime), it works like an oriental rug placed in just the right room…it ties everything together (or so I’ve been told when watching HGTV).  Broken down into a series of chapters, the film has the unconventional yet functional flow found in many of other Tarantino pictures.  That humor that I mentioned earlier, call it tongue-in-cheek, call it snide, call it whatever you want.  You will find that its timing is spot-on and well-placed and will deliver a reaction that’s more than just a casual chuckle.

If you’re looking for historical accuracy, you may want to disengage that manner of thinking before entering this film.  Writer/Director Quentin Tarantino took that concept and flipped it rear over head when he put this piece of work together.  It’s fictitious as fictitious can be and as a bit of military history aficionado, I didn’t mind one bit.  Go in to this film with a very open mind.  If you are going to keep pointing during the film while saying, “That never happened.  That’s fake.  That didn’t happen either,” then I guarantee you your surrounding movie-going fans will want to make an example of you. 

Before I wrap this up, I wanted to point out that I’m not a big fan of Tarantino’s movies.  There was some draw this film had put out there for me though and whatever it was, I took the bait and ended up having a very enjoyable cinematic experience as a result.  Of course this film isn’t for everyone, but I’m saying it is certainly worth a rental, although I would have been very disappointed in myself if I didn’t see this in the theater.