Inglourious Basterds

Inglourious Basterds is a blood soaked classic. The film is another classic from Quentin Tarantino and stars Brad Pitt, Christopher Waltz, Eli Roth, Diane Krüger and Mélanie Laurent. The film tells the story of two plots to assassinate the Nazi Germany political leadership by two very different groups. This is Tarantino’s highest grossing film to date.

Thankfully, Tarantino has eschewed the genre conventions of the pious, po-faced war movie, and given a historically inaccurate, but fabulous escapade. In this film, unlike many previous War Movies, the protagonists are not the usual, humourless, chisel-jawed dedicated Men On A Mission, but live, real, fleshed out, quirky characters - each with their own personality and foibles.

The characters are real, larger than life, instantly recognisable, and there are wonderful moments when some of the most evil men in history finally get their just desserts. This is shot in a series of vignettes (very much in the pulp fiction style) and each little episode provides an extra element to the overall story.

There are two intertwining story lines, both about a plot to kill the German Nazi leaders; one planned by a young French Jewish cinema proprietor (Laurent), and the other by a team of Jewish Allied soldiers led by Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Pitt). Both storylines eventually meet at the end of the film with a shattering conclusion.