So … last night David and I went on a movie date to see Inglourious Basterds. I have to preface this whole post by clearly stating for the record that I hate Nazi movies. While I understand that WWII and all the horrible things associated with it is an important part of world history, I cannot express how much I loathe the mere sight of anything Nazi -related. While I liked Inglourious Basterds, I must confess that I was far too stressed out for the entire duration of the film to “enjoy” it … inasmuch as one can “enjoy” a film about Nazis:
While it is true that the main focus is on the Basterds, American Jews who went into Europe for the sole purpose to find, kill and scalp Nazis, I can’t say that I reveled that much in their success. Revenge and death is just not appealing to me. I know that the audience is supposed to cheer when the tops of Nazi heads are sliced off with huge bowie knives or when their heads are bashed in with baseball bats or when they are riddled with bullets or when they are burned alive but … I just can’t cheer. As far as Quentin Tarantino films go, this is one of his good ones. His trademark style is all over this film, including his adept use of music. I guess I don’t really understand the point of a fictionalized story like this. BE WARNED A HUGE SPOILER POINT IN THE FILM IS COMING SO DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU WISH TO REMAIN UNSPOILED … in this film, the monster Adolph Hitler is brutally killed by the Basterds before he and his closest Nazi underlings are burned and blown up. The fact that his never happened in history seems … weird. If people get comfort from seeing this, then I’m all for it (I understand the term for this kind of film is Kosher Porn). The man was a disgusting waste of flesh but I guess the fact that his death didn’t happen like it was portrayed in the film is what bothered me more. Again, murderous revenge is rarely appealing to me but … I think I would’ve felt much better about what I saw on screen if that’s actually the way that piece of shit met his end. Again, I did like the film … but the stress of all that grotesque inhumanity really took its toll on me.
Not sure what’s on deck for today … David and I have a lot of food shopping to do so we’ll prolly take care of that today. Other than that, it looks like it may be a lazy Saturday afternoon for us.
I have to agree with everything you said Trent.
At the end of the movie I looked at one of my friends and said “I loved that, but I never want to see it again.”
I thought this was one of Tarantino’s best movies. I must say Eli Roth in the final balcony scene in the theatre had one of the most truly insane looks on his face that I have ever seen in a movie, you could really seen the insane pleasure he was getting out of obliterating his target (those who have seen the movie know what I am talking about). Now that was one truly frightining look.
My friend and I did have to wonder what was going through the mind of the guy in front of us in the theatre who brought his (we are guessing) 12 year old son I mean come on it is a Tarantino movie no kid that age should be watching one of his movies, there was a couple of times we looked over and the poor kid looked like he was going to vomit right there and then
Interesting! I think your response, Trent, speaks well of you. But I loved it!!! I have to admit that I really enjoyed seeing Hitler, Goebbels and their Nazi fans shot up and burned at the hands of vengeful Jews. It was a fun release given what undescribable evil they are responsible for. I think especially because it wasn’t real. Real life could never be that black & white. I’m the opposite in that I can’t watch Hostel-type movies because it sickens me to look at that kind of violence as entertainment. I think people laugh at the scalpings because it’s so extreme to show it on film, not because they’re laughing at it as though it’s real. I had to cover my eyes. But, again, I totally LOVED this movie.
Oh, btw, I don’t think it’s correct to say that this movie depicts our side acting as barbarically as the Nazis. The Nazis weren’t going after soldiers on the opposite side; they systematically tortured and mass-murdered civilians. I’m a big fan of the Geneva convention and believe that everyone, even “enemy” soldiers, should be treated humanely, but I just think it’s off the mark to compare The Basterds’ and Shoshanna’s actions to the Nazis’ as a few people here did… (although, I think Libby’s point about the movie-watching is very interesting and, I would imagine, intentional)
You should read this article on the movie. It’s a great guide to what Tarantino was trying to do: http://reason.com/news/show/135691.html
[...] Revenge Of The Chosen (pinkisthenewblog.com) [...]