Inglourious Basterds

Like Enzo Castellari’s 1978 film of the same name, Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds (Miramax) is set in World War II, specifically German-occupied France, where Shosanna Dreyfus (played by Mélanie Laurent) witnesses the execution of her family by the Nazis. She narrowly escapes and flees to Paris, where she forges a new identity as the owner and operator of a cinematheque.   

Elsewhere in Europe, Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) organizes a group of Jewish soldiers to engage in targeted acts of retribution. Known to their enemies as ‘The Basterds’, Raine's squad joins German actress and undercover agent Bridget Von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger) on a mission to take down the leaders of the Third Reich. Fates converge under a cinema marquee, where Shosanna is poised to carry out a revenge plan of her own. 

As Nazi Colonel Hans Landa, Christoph Waltz redeems what could have been a clichéd role with remarkable menace, serving up much of the tension of the film. The farmhouse scene where he searches for a Jewish family—as well as the scene at the premiere where, as head of security, he realizes what is about to occur—exhibit Waltz’s excellent character acting. 

With an auteur director like Tarantino, it’s almost impossible to watch a film of his without the weight of expectation. There are certain touches and identifiable aesthetics that can be spotted throughout Tarantino’s body of work—the equivalent of directorial fingerprints.   

There are things we’ve come to expect from him (a certain level of absurdity, clever and playful extended exchanges and dialogue) that are mostly absent in this film. While Tarantino has proven in his earlier work that he can masterfully walk the fine line between tragedy and farce, there is an inconsistent feel to the film in terms of tone.   

But still, there’s a certain sense of amoral fun running rampant throughout the film. If one takes to heart Enzo Castellari's original tag line—“Whatever The Dirty Dozen Did, They Do Dirtier”—then Inglourious Basterds is certainly enjoyable.

 

Surrogates

Having been primed for suspense and mayhem by Tarantino and company, I’m looking forward to Jonathan Mostow’s Surrogates, from Touchstone Pictures. In it, Bruce Willis stars as an FBI Agent, sent to investigate the mysterious murder of a college student. 

The student was known to be linked to the man who helped create surrogate technology, a phenomenon that allows people to purchase unflawed robotic versions of themselves—fit, good-looking, remote-controlled machines that ultimately assume their life roles—enabling people to experience life vicariously from the comfort and safety of their own homes.  

The murder spawns a quest for answers: in a world of masks, who’s real, and who can you trust? 
 

Movie Theaters in Mandaluyong

 

(Dean Francis Alfar has won many writing awards and been published nationally and internationally. He is a leading advocate of the speculative fiction movement on the Philippine literary scene.)