The Last Movie I Saw

Some comments on the new Quentin Tarantino movie Inglourious Basterds (sic):

1. Brad Pitt is really funny in this film, in a performance that could seem rather oafish based on any single scene. But the amazing consistency in both the physical and verbal means used to convey his character's actual character-- a kind of cocky but folksy self-righteousness-- in a variety of encounters is truly a tour de force. It'll never garner any award consideration, because comic roles rarely do, but after last year's Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Burn After Reading, I don't know if there's anyone aside from Sean Penn who has displayed this kind of range among current actors.

2. I'm not a fan of horror films, so maybe this next statement results from a personal blind-spot, but Tarantino must be one of the most gruesome filmmakers working today. The blood quotient in this movie isn't all that high-- there's a great deal more time spent building tension through dialogue than actual gory violence. But when it comes, it often seems over the top (not unlike in all of his previous films, with the possible exception of Jackie Brown), though in hindsight, none of it appears to be gratutitous (also, as in his previous work). A basic premise of this film, with which I agree, is that Nazis were scum. When they get their just desserts, it's hard not to say its perfectly justified.

3. There's a cottage industry within the historical profession of creating "What if?" scenarios in relation to real events. When they engage in such speculation, a serious historian will try to construct a counter-narrative that is at least reasonably consistent with certain true-to-life factors so that the outcome is a reasonable conjecture of alternative reality. Tarantino is no historian, and so likely felt no compunction to play by those kinds of rules. His alternative history of World War II is pure fantasy, yet speaks to a deep-seated desire to retroactively exact a more severe punishment on Hitler and his followers than the actual victory represented-- and providing a valid history lesson to a current generation long separated from that particular conflict. The terms "Nazi" and "fascist" are thrown around so easily in contemporary political discourse that those terms have become lazy synonyms for something bad or dangerous, without necessarily acknowledging the utter evil of real Naziism. In a way, Inglourous Basterds makes a stab at re-establishing just how sinister those particular villains were, and in so doing distances them from the more pedestrian (and frankly idiotic) accusations made about, say, advocates for health care reform. I don't know if the movie will make a difference in how those terms are tossed around, but it's hard not to see it as at least something of a response to the devaluation of such labels in recent years.

4. Tarantino has regularly demonstrated that he is a master at constructing musical soundtracks for his films, and he's definitely on his game here. It's a sign of how deeply immersed he is in getting all the elements to click, which is probably why he has never made a bad (or even mediocre) film. Well, maybe his segment in Four Rooms, but I'm thinking I need to watch that again, because now I suspect I missed something the first (and last) time I saw it.