Inglourious Basterds

On Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds.

2009 was quite a spectacular year for movies. Titles such as Avatar, Up In The Air, and District 9 took the world of cinema by storm, earning hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue and massive critical acclaim. However, despite the high budget tentpole pictures released, Quentin Tarantino’s masterpiece Inglorious Basterds stood out as not only one of the greatest releases of the year, but one of the greatest of the decade. Although it’s budget was in fact $70 million, which in retrospect is a moderately high budget, the story given to us most certainly  could have been filmed with a much smaller budget and still turn out just as spectacular. Aspects which have granted the film it’s praise include it’s outstanding cinematography and usage of the camera to create raw emotion, and it’s trademarked narrative form which contains single stories so brilliantly written they could stand alone by themselves.

When you say “Tarantino”, most people envision buckets of blood, hundreds of “f-words” and similar curses, and dialogue you can quote for years to come. With Basterds, Tarantino does not disappoint. Satirizing the Nazi movement in Germany and France in the 1940’s, he juxtaposes a masterful mix of humor, drama, action, and imagery into a very unique structural narrative. The film is composed of 6 individual ‘acts’ which in traditional Tarantino style, tie neatly together in a fascinating story. I mentioned the acts could each hold their own and be just as intense and gripping, yet what makes the structure so “great” is how Tarantino wraps them together into a bigger picture… which turns out to be the destruction of the entire Third Reich. The acts include an intense interrogation, a darkly humorous overview of a mostly Jewish-American platoon, a story of a distraught undercover cinema owner, two acts featuring the American’s mission to assassinate Hitler, and the final act showing destruction of Nazi leadership.

Traditional “Hollywood” style narrative form contains a continuous 3 part structure with an introduction, rising action, climax, and resolution. Basterds on the other hand seems to completely disregard the norm and simply give us 3 interwoven plot lines in 6 distinctive and titled parts. Now, the overall story does in fact contain an introduction, climax, action and a resolution… perhaps even multiple. Arguably the most famous and quoted act in the film is the “basement” scene, where the Americans attempt to infiltrate German information along with a fictitious German actress. You’ll notice the framing and use of low or close up shots create immense tension in a fascinating conversation, as well as natural, realistic dialogue move the conversation along in a unique way that keeps us focused, entertained, and even slightly nervous.

The basement scene and the interrogation at the beginning serve as prime examples of the type of writing Tarantino features in his narrative structure. Simply the fact that Quentin Tarantino can make an entire 20 minute act out of a conversation is remarkable. It’s something you really can’t see from any other filmmaker working today, clearly positioning him as one of the most gifted writers of our generation, and possibly of all time.

It’s one thing to interweave distinctive plotlines together into one, it’s another to make it visually stunning. Rumor has it that Quentin Tarantino receives a good amount of help from collaborators and other entities in filmmaking, including frequent collaborator and cinematographer Robert Richardson. However, there is no doubt that Tarantino’s vision is portrayed masterfully in Basterds.  Known for his homage to classic cinema, Quentin releases his collection of classic and trademarked shots in tip top form. For an example of the cinematography featured in the film, I’ve broken down the shots and style of the first act.

The opening shot of the film, being common in the majority of films released, is an extreme long shot of French countryside, setting the location of the act. He uses gradual progression to introduce the infamous Hans Landa, who interrogates a French farmer in the farmer’s own home. The intensity of the conversation between the two gradually increases as the stakes get higher and we realize what’s on the line. To mirror this, Tarantino begins by using a track to encircle the two, then the shots get closer and closer, from medium, to medium close up, then to close ups. Through these shots, we truly feel the emotion and nerves of the farmer, and the pure malice and unforgiving nature of Landa.

You’ll also notice the angle of the shots through the first scene; starting off even and direct with the duo’s figures, then changing slightly as we realize who has the upper hand. As Landa explains who he is and what he’s there for, the camera starts to angle upward, giving him an aspect of power and authority, while belittling the farmer. This technique is used frequently throughout the film for figures such as “the Bear Jew”, American Lieutenant Aldo Raine, and Adolf Hitler.

It takes a great deal of skill to make a feature length film. Aspects such as writing and narrative 

form, cinematography, mise-en-scene (what’s in the shot), sound, editing, and logistics have to be 

heavily taken into consideration. It takes even more skill to craft a classic, or memorable film. Yet to 

completely disregard the basic structure of American films and develop emotion through shots is 

nearly unheard of. Inglourious Basterds magnificently gives us a spectacular story broken up into 

multiple parts, entertains us with smart dialogue, and places us in a state of awe with incredible shots 

and cinematography. Undoubtedly one of the best films of the 2000’s, Basterds is one you’ll 

appreciate for a long time.