Inglourious Basterds

Violent is what comes to mind when I think of this movie.

This Quentin Tarantino movie (remember Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill) is NOT FOR CHILDREN – it is graphic, it is violent, and it is good. If you have a weak stomach – don’t watch it. If violence disturbs you – don’t watch it. If you hate foul language – don’t watch it. Read the quote and then take special note of the “scalping part,” scalping is in the movie so if seeing that would disturb you – it’s in there – don’t watch it (or you could do like me and close your eyes and turn down the volume) during that part.

Having given you all the warnings I can, I want to tell you this is a good movie. It is definitely not going to be everyone’s cup of tea and it is NOT a “feel good” movie. It is a war story and the adage that “war is hell” must have had this movie in mind. BUT….80% of the movie is not graphic or violent, but a wonderful story...BUT…the scenes that are violent are.

Brad Pitt is Lt. Aldo Raine and he plays him with a Clark Gable look and an over-the-top southern accent (someone said in one of the interviews that Pitt’s accent was almost a character itself) – watch the movie and you’ll see what I mean. If you have seen the movie The Dirty Dozen – think The Dirty Dozen on steroids and you have the men, Jewish soldiers, who serve under Aldo Raine.

I don’t normally watch these kinds of movies, but this one kept my attention and I’m not sure why – actually I felt the same way about Pulp Fiction – they are both oddly transfixing movies – kind of like that bag of peanut M and M’s, you know you shouldn’t reach for, but….you just can resist.

Christoph Waltz, the villain in this movie, deserved the Oscar he got for his role as the Nazi Colonel Hans Landa. Mr. Waltz as Han Landa is quietly creepy.

Quotes

Lt. Aldo Raine: My name is Lt. Aldo Raine and I'm putting together a special team, and I need me eight soldiers. Eight Jewish-American soldiers. Now, y'all might've heard rumors about the armada happening soon. Well, we'll be leaving a little earlier. We're gonna be dropped into France, dressed as civilians. And once we're in enemy territory, as a bushwhackin' guerrilla army, we're gonna be doin' one thing and one thing only... killin' Nazis. Now, I don't know about y'all, but I sure as hell didn't come down from the goddamn Smoky Mountains, cross five thousand miles of water, fight my way through half of Sicily and jump out of a fuckin' air-o-plane to teach the Nazis lessons in humanity. Nazi ain't got no humanity. They're the foot soldiers of a Jew-hatin', mass murderin' maniac and they need to be dee-stroyed. That's why any and every every son of a bitch we find wearin' a Nazi uniform, they're gonna die. Now, I'm the direct descendant of the mountain man Jim Bridger. That means I got a little Injun in me. And our battle plan will be that of an Apache resistance. We will be cruel to the Germans, and through our cruelty they will know who we are. And they will find the evidence of our cruelty in the disemboweled, dismembered, and disfigured bodies of their brothers we leave behind us. And the German won't not be able to help themselves but to imagine the cruelty their brothers endured at our hands, and our boot heels, and the edge of our knives. And the German will be sickened by us, and the German will talk about us, and the German will fear us. And when the German closes their eyes at night and they're tortured by their subconscious for the evil they have done, it will be with thoughts of us they are tortured with. Sound good?
The Basterds: YES, SIR!
Lt. Aldo Raine: That's what I like to hear. But I got a word of warning for all you would-be warriors. When you join my command, you take on debit. A debit you owe me personally. Each and every man under my command owes me one hundred Nazi scalps. And I want my scalps. And all y'all will git me one hundred Nazi scalps, taken from the heads of one hundred dead Nazis. Or you will die tryin'.

Plot Summary

In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a group of Jewish-American soldiers known as "The Basterds" are chosen specifically to spread fear throughout the Third Reich by scalping and brutally killing Nazis.

The Basterds commanding officer is Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) and he is one tough cookie. Be aware that there are also other stories interwoven with the main story and they do interconnect.

Take special note of the tattoo (of sorts) given to the Nazi’s lucky enough to survive a meeting with “The Basterds.” Though the survivors probably don’t think they are so lucky.

This is not an accurate portrayal of what REALLY happened to Hitler and his henchmen, but it would have been interesting if it had been.

Life Lessons

Two Wolves…A Cherokee Parable

An old Cherokee chief was teaching his grandson about life...

”A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy.

It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves.

One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, self-doubt, and ego.

The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.

This same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too.

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather,
"Which wolf will win?"

The old chief simply replied, "The one you feed."

Inglourious Basterds Movie Cast

• Brad Pitt as Lt. Aldo Raine
• Christoph Waltz as Colonel Hans Landa
• Diane Kruger as Bridget Von Hammersmark
• Eli Roth as Sgt. Donnie Donowitz
• Melanie Laurent as Shosanna Dreyfus
• Michael Fassbender as Lt. Archie Hicox
• Daniel Bruhl as Fredrick Zoller
• Til Schweiger as Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz
• Mike Myers as General Ed Fenech
• Rod Taylor as Winston Churchill
• And others