Once Upon a Time in Nazi Occupied France

That's the title of Inglorious Basterds' first act; it embodies the tone of Tarintino's grimly whimsical, romantic dramatization of a historical period rarely approached with anything besides solemnity. Since I suspect Anna and M haven't seen the movie I'll keep this review brief and speak in general terms, but I can say right from the start that I highly recommend it.

The flim's structure is theatrical; each act is a masterfully detailed episode in which very little time is wasted on pointless transitional scenes. All of that energy has gone into populating each scene with interesting characters and unconstrained, un-contrived dialogue which follows the pacing dictated by the scene rather then by timing or 'plot development', which sometimes seems to degenerate into over-explication of the directors favorite element of the storyline. It's very natural and, in my opinion, engrossing.

Tarintino has certainly taken hold of the historical material at hand and bent it to his vision; I call Basterds' 'romantic' because it places nations and armies at the mercy of individuals, rather than the other way around. I'd like to say that there are heroes and villains in sharper relief than what we're used to in movies concerned with WWII, but villainy is incarnated more clearly than heroism, strictly speaking. The Basterds', who are 'the good guys', are also casually cruel and by nature vengeful. Their Jewishness seems a little like a vehicle for a remorseless, usually unconsidered brutaility toward every and all Nazi's encountered in the film.

Which brings me to the issue of violence; I found it violent but not spectacularily so, and Alex seemed to disagree. Without spoiling anything, I can say that there are violent acts which, while not being particuraily bloody, are still cringe-inducing by virtue of what they are. But it's not a protracted bloody mess.

All in all, one of my favorites without a doubt: I think I'll pick it up on DVD when it's avaliable, which would be pretty rare for me. =O