Inglorious Basterds
Inglorious Basterds is
set in Nazi-occupied France. Shosanna Dreyfus witnesses the death of her family
by Colonel Hans Landa, and narrowly escapes with her life. Several years later
she plots her revenge. She is offered to host an event at her movie theater and
all major Nazis will be there, where she plans to take them down. The
“Basterds”, a ruthless killing group led by Lt. Aldo Raine, also hear of this
event and also plan to attack there. I think that the film is aimed at a young adult and adult
audience due to its violent and gory context. At times it can also be quite
complicated and for someone younger then this would not understand and take
little enjoyment from it.
The movie is an action and a drama. The
opening sequence to the movie is Colonel Hans Landa, who is a Nazi soldier
looking for hidden Jews, coming into a house to find the last Jewish family in
the area. The man hiding the Jews is the first we see, when the Nazi car is
driving towards them we see him looking suspicious. The audience is not told
why he is, which hold their interest, as they want to find out what they are
hiding to look so skeptical. While the `colonel is in the house and talking to
the man the audience is then shown that the Jewish family are right below their
feet, under the floor. This adds even more anticipation and nerves because they
are all in such close proximity of each other. Finally, in the last shot we see
one of the Jews escaping setting up the tone for the rest of the movie, knowing
that the main story is the Colonel finding that girl. The viewers want to carry
on watching to see how this all plays out.
The opening scene is long and drawn out. This adds to the tension in
the scene as it keeps the audience on their toes throughout. Tension keeps
being added throughout the scene, this tension is highlight with by the music.
When the Nazi car first turns up Fur-Elise is playing in the background but
with a twist making it sound more cynical then pretty. During the interrogation
the music is quite again highlighting the nervousness that the man must be
feeling. At one time there is juts a ticking clock when the Colonel says the
consequences if any Jews are found and gives the man the ultimatum of saying
where the Jews are or being punished. All this eary calm music again makes the
viewer tense and unsure. The music drastically changes to very loud opera
singers to highlight the apprehension when the Jews are being shot at through
the floorboards.
The camera work in the opening sequence
always moves slowly and fluidly. This adds to the eary calm, or the
juxtaposition between the tension and the calmness both of the men try to
preserve. When the camera moves down the man who owns the houses legs we see
how close the Jews are to them, this adds even more tension with seeing them
and guaranteeing their existence, and the lies the man is telling. When the man lies the camera also zooms in on what he is doing, almost
like it is his distraction from what he is saying, but also to show the Colonel
that he is innocent and has nothing to hide. In the end of the scene the camera
shows a long shot of her running away and a close up of the Colonel about to
shoot his gun. This adds tension to the scene as it is unclear weather he will
shoot or not.
The editing is also very important in
this scene. As the investigation goes on the editing stays slow and paced.
Their conversation is shown to be calm and collected, even having the Colonel
and the man smoking. But this is an eary calm that is created by the editing. It
is also very cleaver as it shows bits of information at different times which
increases the uncertainty in the atmosphere. When the man admits to be hiding
Jews the editing of each of their faces becomes longer, to she the sadness in
the mans face and confliction as to what he should do, and the anger and knowing on the Colonels.
After the opening sequence I think the viewer would most likely like to
know what would happen to the girl and if the ‘Jew Hunter’ will find her. This
big question would grip the audience and make them watch the movie as the first
scene was so tense that it sets the whole movie up to be extremely edgy.
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