Inglourious Basterds vs Defiance

Until last year, I was only aware of two kinds of WWII movies. The first, of course, is the soldiers-in-the-trenches films, like Saving Private Ryan, in which the focus is on the battles. The other kind portrays the horrific crimes committed against those put in concentration camps, in movies like Schindler’s List and Life is Beautiful. Finally, there’s a third genre of WWII movie: the Jews fight back.

And it’s not revisionist history, either. Defiance tells the true story of the Bielski brothers, who fled Nazis, hid in the woods, created a whole new village of survivors, and defended the hell out of it with brains and bullets. There’s a rush in watching Defiance. Not only is there pride in the triumph of good humans over evil and adversity, there’s also a bit of rooting for the underdog, not unlike what you might experience watching a sports movie. You’ll be moved by watching Defiance, in much the same way you were moved by The Pianist; but there’s also a touch of Rocky in there too, or maybe even one of those stickin-it-to-the-man movies, like The Insider or Norma Rae. In Defiance, the Jewish characters are mad as hell, and they’re not taking it anymore.

Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber and Jamie Bell are the Bielskis, three brothers whose parents have been murdered in Nazi attacks. Tuvia (Craig), starts the revenge ball rolling by interrupting dinner at the home of the officer who killed his parents, and gunning him (and a couple others) down. Tuvia is somewhat distraught over his actions, but it’s more nervousness about using a gun than regret over taking a life. As Defiance progresses, we see that it was just a warm-up. The Bielskis, primarily Tuvia and his cocky brother Zus (Schreiber) machine-gun Nazis in both defensive and offensive moves, and I gotta admit: they’re both complete hardasses, and when they’re out taking down Nazis, Defiance is a powerful, at times even fun, movie. Not that it’s not harrowing and sad too; how could it not be? Director Edward Zwick certainly has a knack for filming bleak scenes of suffering and combat, and also handles huge crowd scenes better than most (he’s had plenty of practice, with Glory and The Last Samurai under his belt). There’s an exodus near the end, with the entire village holding a chain of belts and rope as they make a journey toward freedom that is tense and moving. Still, Defiance carries with it a bit of a hindrance in its roots in history. Honoring the Bielskis is important, but it’s also Important, and sometimes that obligation to include every detail, every change of season, every argument in the village, gets a little heavy for the action movie it bookends.

Inglourious Basterds doesn’t have that problem. Quentin Tarantino solves that in the opening title card, “Once upon a time”. This is WWQT, and for the running time of Inglourious Basterds, I believed every word.

Brad Pitt stars as Lt. Aldo Raine. In this case, the term “stars” is not to be taken lightly. Everyone knows Pitt is a star, but I think it’s time it was acknowledged that Pitt’s star power comes from what he does on screen, rather than off. Lt. Raine is as risky a role as any taken by any of Pitt’s peers in the past couple years, and he makes some funny and bold choices. It’s a broad character to begin with, but Pitt plays to the cheap seats anyway. With this, Fight Club, True Romance and Burn After Reading, I’d say an argument could be made for Pitt to stick with comedy. Lt. Raine’s mission, as you might have seen in the trailer, is to put together a squad of soldiers to kill Nazis and return with their scalps (or die trying). Most of the soldiers are Jewish Americans, although there are also Germans, and in Lt. Raine’s case, Apache-Americans. When Lt. Raine and his men are carrying out their mission, Inglourious Basterds is as visceral a thrill as anything Tarantino’s done. Raine and his crew humiliate and kill the Nazis they find, always leaving behind one swastika-scarred survivor to spread the tale of fear to the other Germans. It’s working. Word of the Basterds body count has found its way to Hitler himself. Down the list a bit from Hitler is Hans Landa, a Colonel who so delights in his success in finding Jewish people in hiding that he’s known as the Jew Hunter. Landa is played by Christoph Waltz in a performance that borders on virtuoso. What else would you call an actor whose portrayal is not only terrifying, hilarious, disgusting and compelling, but consists of three languages spoken fluently? This is Landa’s American film debut, by the way. The same goes for Melanie Laurent, who joins the ranks of great Tarantino female characters, as Shosanna, a young woman who fled a Nazi massacre of her family (in the film’s fascinating opening sequence), and now lives in Paris, running a movie theater specializing in Nazi propaganda.

Shosanna’s story is the heart of Inglourious Basterds. She’s planning revenge that rivals not only Lt. Raine’s, but also ranks among the Bride’s in Kill Bill for overall mayhem, violence and significance. Shosanna doesn’t just want revenge, she wants to make a statement. Apparently Tarantino searched for months for his Shosanna. Laurent was worth the wait. Besides her performance (Laurent puts more subtext into a cigarette drag than most actors put into a three-page monologue), Tarantino keeps Laurent lit and framed like a movie star from the forties (he does the same with Diane Krueger, as a German actress). She’s got a scene near the end of the movie in a red dress by a window in the theater that probably references a movie Tarantino’s seen that I have not, so I’ve no choice but to call it an original. The entire movie feels that way. It’s all either stuff from Tarantino’s movie-buff memory (I picture the inside of his head as a card catalog, each one referencing a movie I haven’t seen, with labels like “Awesome”, “So bad it’s good”, “Exploitation”, “Kung Fu”, “Awesome 2”, etc.), or shout-outs to his previous films, with each one used to its ultimate effect. Hey, everybody else making movies the past fifteen years has been ripping Tarantino off; he might as well get territorial about it. You’ll see long takes of gripping conversation; surprising cameos, lingering shots of feet; Mexican stand-offs; Blacksploitation-style title cards; great music, and more. That this is perhaps Tarantino’s most mature and emotional work is probably also worth noting, but mainly it’s a brave, hilarious rewriting of history that not many directors could get away with. It’s practically defiant.

Inglourious Basterds: A

Defiance: B+