I Want My Scalps!

Let's start at the beginning. This movie is something that should be called by now a Tarantino Flick. Yes, it is a sub-genre, and many people who are not Tarantino could try to make a Tarantino Flick. This categorization, brings some heavy baggage along.

What to expect?

Many things could come to mind: a good story, excellent dialogue (already called Tarantinesque in the academic jargon), compelling characters, winks to film itself, an incredible combination of score or soundtrack with images, chapter division, among others. Even though all those things come to mind, the only thing you are certain about a Tarantino film is that it will be genuinely entertaining.

Tarantino makes films with the spectator in his head. He sets out to make the greatest movie he would like to watch. In the case of Inglourious Basterds, he succeeded. He brings us, as the advertising materials bragged, his own vision of the Second World War. In this movie, he chose a context and specific characters, and used them as part of his completely fictional film.

Inglourious Basterds is a movie about a group of jewish-american soldiers known as "The basterds", lead by Lt. Aldo Raine (an exquisite caricature played by Brad Pitt), that are chosen to kill nazis and "gather 100 nazi scalps per soldier", in occupied France.

I'm not getting into much detail about the plot and subplot because that would mean to ruin the surprise factor. With the basic premise of the film, and what has been seen in the trailers, one can imagine a whole adrenalin rush throughout the film. The truth is that it doesn't happen. The movie has long dialogue secuences very much in the style of its director, and the locations, generally, can be counted with the hands' fingers. It's not a war movie, I insist, it's a Tarantino Flick.

Inglourious Basterds is a movie that with its two and a half hours length, left me wanting more. You are left wanting more Basterds, more Nazis, more Brad Pitt, and more Cristoph Waltz (WOW), more brutality, more scalps, more.

Another thing, and this is me playing the prophet without credit, but I think the movie has scenes which in a few decades will be classics.

"I think this might just be my masterpiece..." With all due respect, Mr. Tarantino, I don't think so, but there's no doubt you do have style. A lot.