Inglorius Basterds

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Well, I went to see it again.

Was just thinking that it's a bit like Cronenberg's "The Fly"; the violence/horror sort of fades away on re-viewing, as if it was a sort of camouflaging set of gimmicks/crowd-pulling special effects ( except that they are there to impress you with the danger, to remind you of how much is at stake ), ... or if it doesn't exactly "fade away" it becomes more clearly unreal/symbolic of a different kind of violence.

The real violence is underneath; it's about how not knowing/making the right gesture, not speaking the right way, in the everyday world, for instance, is as dangerous, as anxiety-inducing, as facing a nazi who might kill you for it. The tension and terror of putting a foot wrong socially.

It's brilliant. The cat and mouse game of "passing", of resisting psychological, social and verbal pressures designed/intended to breakdown/pierce a facade/pretence/mask which was developed/practiced in order to stay alive/save lives.

The nazis in the film, ( not the german sniper ), are all the time "sniffing" out "who" people are, "what" and "where" they are, counting and describing them, penetrating disguises/pretences/hiding places and exposing people. The "basterds"'s revenge, even more than killing, is to make sure that everybody will know who, and what, they ( the nazis ) really are.

It's painfully suspenseful, and heartbreaking, to see one person after another ( the dairy farmer, Soshanna in the cafe eating "strudel", the team meeting the german actress ) , "putting on a show", performing, because their lives are, or may be, on the line if they cannot do it.

I love this film.

PS. I knew there was some reason, ( apart from the obvious one ), why the film kept reminding me of "Carrie", and oddly enough of "Christine" ( the one with the car ), but this time the revenge is not guilt-ridden, neurotic, anxious, self-hating, but "in yer face". I put "jubilatory", but it isn't ... what is it?
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PPS. It's interesting that the revenges are in fact sooo very similar to the nazi behaviour; in one case nazis shot down while trapped in an enclosed space, and in the other case(s) marking them/exposing them for what they are. Examples of the victim who later copies their abuser's treatment of them.

Is that a flaw ( in the film, that these revenges may be "enjoyed"/admired and/or gratefully welcomed and identified with by people )? Or is it a warning, ( to anyone who sees themselves as a victim )?

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I was trying to work out who the goodies and baddies are in the film; like in a cowboys and indians story, ... or in "the good the bad and the ugly" , and I think "ugly" ( the worst ) is actually Brad Pitt's character. He's the third element, neither nazi nor jew. He uses other people's pain/suffering as a weapon, a devastating guided missile, to hunt down, and eliminate, or identify forever, enemies of America ( or the multinational economic/cultural empire that the USA represents ). He "fires" fatal weapons made of human beings at other human beings who threaten that empire.

It is not Landa who is the arch-villain; it is Pitt's character. He cynically uses people's suffering and pain to attack others.

And the funny thing is that Landa "thinks like a rat". Why/how is that he "thinks like a rat"? Because he is "a rat" perhaps? One that has developed the most perfect protective colouring of all, ( with four languages, plenty of smiles, and an even bigger pipe than everybody else as part of his performance ), but when he abandons its shelter he is exposed as an innocent child; "But you said that you would ...", "It's not fair, we agreed ...", and is finally "caught" in the open, without the rules he has leaned on, relied on, believed in, followed obediently, ... ( and which functioned as prosthetic replacements for whatever personal strength/experience/wisdom that he lacks ), and when he is caught, who is it that marks him? Who is it that carves that utterly humiliating sign on his forehead, but the man who makes weapons out of children who have been abused.

I like Landa, though rather less after he has stopped trusting in the purity and unblemished honour of the German people and its goals, ( I think that it is the actress's treachery which causes the scales to fall from his eyes ), because you realise how weak he is, but he is direct, transparent, childlike, curious, and has a sense of justice, ( and murderous meltdowns if he thinks that someone has betrayed a loyalty ). His problem was believing in the nazi ideals/principles ... his problem/failing/mistake was maybe in trying to hide, at whatever cost.

But Pitt's character is an abomination, a monster, a machine. He will say anything to achieve the American/multinational empire's goals, and has no qualms using living people and their unhealed trauma to fight with.

The only "good" person that I could think of in the whole film was the german officer who refused to divulge to the "basterds" the whereabouts of other german soldiers, even though he knew he was almost certainly going to be beaten to death as a result. He was wearing lots of medals, and one of the "basterds" asks him tauntingly what all the badges are for, and he says "Courage", ( which is interesting because I think it is only lack of courage which makes Landa a baddie ).

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In reply to Laconvivencia, Ruveyn, and Macbeth's points above ( sorry; I forgot to quote ):

Interestingly the film seems to suggest that what changes people's minds about a group of people depends on their being able to "see", clearly, however fleetingly, the individual in the crowd, so that they realise that their ideologies/neat and tidy labels are faulty/inadequate. And what might cause this sudden clarity may depend on which group you belong to/whether you belong to the "dominant" or "victim/subordinate" group.

Both Landa and Soshanna lose their "defences", their protective "shells", and become vulnerable, ( "human" ), on seeing a german behave in a way which didn't fit with their idea of them.

Landa believes germany, and germans, are pure, high-principled, and finds shelter in following german "rules" perfectly/brilliantly, until he discovers that a famous german actress is a "traitor", ... remember how he says as he looks at the scene in the underground bar; " Something doesn't quite fit"

And Soshanna sees all germans as evil, deserving nothing but death, until she perceives something on screen/in film/art that she hadn't seen in the flesh till then; that the german sniper feels remorse and horror at killing so many allied soldiers, even when it was in self-defence.

But Aldo never stops marking/labelling people, putting them in groups. He remains inhuman. [ NB. He "objects" deeply to the underground nature of the bar! Is it because it represents the unconscious where growth and change happens? ]
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