A Few Random Thoughts on 'Inglorious Basterds'

As I see it, there are primarily two kinds of complaints against Quentin Tarantino's 'Inglorious Basterds.' The first is that the film makes a joke out of and/or takes the events of the Holocaust and World War Two lightly. This is improper and problematic. The second complaint is a typical Tarantino complaint: the movie is about nothing, a mere exercise in style over substance.

Frankly, when I take the time to evaluate both of these arguments, I find them to be pretty compelling. And yet I must say, when I sat down to watch 'Inglorious Basterds' I became immersed in its story and characters. Simply put, it was a thrilling moviegoing experience. Trying to evaluate or process the movie through the context of WWII seems pointless; in my view, the movie has nothing to do with the war outside of using it as a setting in time and space. (Still, the argument goes, Tarantino is making use of events and places that he shouldn't be. I can't argue with that.) If the movie is about anything at all, it's about movies.

Which brings me to my main point. Is this movie nothing but an empty, substance-less, stylized exercise? The very fact that I enjoyed a movie this much compels me to think that there must be something interesting going on there. (I know I didn't enjoy it the same way I enjoy, say, Die Hard or Old School.) I suppose it deserves a second viewing, but I think there is definitely something to be discussed relating to the idea of the power of cinema. Both within the movie (in the final scene) and the movie itself, there is a suggestion that the movies can serve as a means of extracting revenge, righting wrongs, and revising history to create certain myths.

Believing movies have this sort of power would make sense coming from someone like Tarantino, who seems to have grown up in a movie theater. But for those who haven't had the luxury, their belief in the power of cinema probably isn't as strong. They're probably right, and that might be the ultimate problem with the film.