Inglourious Basterds

Screenwriters delight in creating villains personifying evil. Their imaginations run wild creating these vile humans whose ultimate comeuppance serve as a delicious just dessert. The crimes that illicit these euphoric moments of revenge are provided through the safe prism of fantasy; unless of course you were of the Jewish race living in Europe during World War II. The crimes perpetrated against the Jews were unfortunately not dreamed up by a demented writer and those responsible, though punished, got off easy in comparison to the millions of lives they destroyed. No dessert has vanquished the bitter taste in the mouths of the world. The only recourse over sixty years later lies in one purveyor of violent fantasy to invoke retribution worthy of the scourge the Nazis inflicted upon the world, Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, a fictionalized retelling of the war to stop a horrendous genocide.

Normally Tarantino’s villains exist in a blood thirsty world whose characters are as witty and charming as they are murderous. The result is the villains are generally cheered on and identified with, particularly because their crimes aren’t exactly exacted against the innocent. Inglourious Basterds is no different in creating a villain whose charm and wit is a joy to behold through Tarantino’s patented verbal assault. Austrian-born actor Christopher Waltz is captivating as the Nazi “Jew Hunter” Colonel Hans Landa. In another film, he would have been another of Tarantino’s heroic sociopaths. With the historic truths behind the fictional horrors he commits, Landa’s demise is one rooted on with unusual gusto for an imaginary revenge.

Hunting the Nazis in the film is a group nicknamed “the bastards”, headed by Brad Pitt’s Lieutenant Aldo Raine. Though Pitt pulls off the role to near perfection, the group as a whole could have used a more thorough flushing out of their story. The moments spent watching their “punishment” of the Nazis is pure sinful pleasure. One can only hope evil truly feels the pain they administer. As it is their power wanes and they unknowingly need the help of an orphaned Jewish woman to pull off the ultimate revenge fantasy that is decadently beautiful in its wicked execution.

It is frightening to feel such pleasure at the sight of such suffering. Usually you empathize with the suffering of another human being. Yet by dehumanizing an entire race, the Nazis only succeeded in exposing themselves as subhuman vermin in need of extermination. In history, they were punished, went into hiding or took a cowardly suicidal bullet out of this world, but in Inglourious Basterds, the Nazis find the end they deserved. Though no amount of fictional retribution can make up for the loss of millions of lives, for a little over two hours at least, Inglourious Basterds provides one glorious serving of sweet revenge.