INGLORIOUS BASTERDS - A New Era of War Cinema
War is a subject with many different aspects. However, bringing war to the mediatization quite difficult when the director can easily get lost in the narration of historical events, forgetting the attractiveness of the artistic details. Quentin Tarantino is not that director. The proof is the movie Inglorious Basterds released in 2009 and reached 8 Oscar nominations in 2010.
The reason why Inglourious Basterds is considered to open a new era of war cinema, is because it has been "color restored" in a completely new style.
“One of the things that’s actually very interesting to me about that is that, one, nitrate stock can do that, so it’s just a neat, cool, practical aspect. But I like the idea that it's the power of cinema that fights the Nazis. But not even as a metaphor – as a literal reality.”
- Quentin Tarantino.
Quentin Tarantino in the interview of "Inglourious Basterds"
Instead of reflecting reality, he opted for a fantasy form and redrawn the war according to his own imagination. It's a new style of filmmaking, different from the usual trend of war cinema. And with a positive feedback from the audience, it promises to open a new future, when war is no longer "predictable" on the big screen.
Inglorious Basterds is a fantasy wartime story with a very coherent plot, about the plan to assassinate the Nazi leadership of the mercenary detachment "Basterds". The movie is divided into 5 chapters:
Chapter 1: Once Upon a Time in Nazi-occupied France introduces Hans Landa - a German officer with the nickname "Jews hunter".
Christoph Waltz in Hans Landa
Chapter 2: The Inglourious Basterds. The story shifts to the middle of the German invasion, when Hitler asks to meet a private who survived an attack by the notorious "Inglourious Basterds". Through the private's account, each member of that organization gradually revealed to the audience and Hitler.
Chapter 3: A German Night in Paris introduces the last two main characters in the film: Emmanuelle Mimieux and Fredrick Zoller: a German war hero who falls in love with the owner of a French cinema. Mimieux is later revealed to be the girl Shoshanna who escaped the accident at the hands of "Jews Hunter" Hans Landa.
Chapter 4: Operation Kino Operation Kino, a special Allies operation to terminate all high-ranking German leaders. This is the time when the small story lines begin to intertwine to become a complete story.
Chapter 5: Revenge of the Giant Face, realizing the endanger of Nazi’s defeat in the World War, Hans Landa - "Jews Hunter" - decided to let go of his past and join with the Allies and the Jews to ensure the success of the Operation Kino. The war ended with victory for the Allies
"Stolz der Nation" ("A Nation's Pride") arrived
How does this film go?
Quentin describes his filmmaking method as "...the rubber band of suspense is stretching and stretching until it breaks. And when it breaks, you get one of those quick bursts of violence." The first story of the film opens with 3 seemingly unrelated chapters, bringing viewers to the feeling of reading a novel that is gradually reconnected in chapter 4 and "breaks" in chapter 5.
In fact, there was a connection between the introduction chapters in both space and time. At the end of chapter 1, Hans Landa spared a little Jew thinking that she would not be able to survive the night. Then, set in 1944, the beginning of chapter 3: A German Night in Paris depicts Shosanna's life after many years after that horrible night. She is now the owner of a cinema in the magnificent Paris, in stark contrast to the vulnerable girl trying to win her life back to death. Parallel to that space connection is the connection in time when chapters 2 and 3 occur together in the year 1944. That's how Quentin "pulled the rubber band” tight enough to give momentum to the "release".
The drama begins to rekindle the moment Hans meets Shoshanna again at Chapter 4. The whole conversation is filmed in a third-person perspective, but there is a suffocating atmosphere that comes from Shoshanna. The last Chapter is the time when the "rubber band" is "released". Starting from when Hans Landa discovered Operation Kino and the movie's release date arrived, a series of events happened, along with each knot untying. The sequence of bloodlust scenes at the end of the film is the signature of Quentin Tarantino's films, the characters' journey come to the end, heralding the end of WWII and also the end of the movie.
