Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds"

"Once upon a time...In Nazi occupied France"

Writer/Director Quentin Tarantino has scored the jackpot with his new film, Inglourious Basterds. This film is described by Tarantino as a "Spaghetti Western but with World War II iconography." Picture The Dirty Dozen and The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly mixed into one film; that film would be Inglourious Basterds.
I actually found myself walking out of the theater saying "I liked this better than Pulp Fiction." Crazy considering that Pulp Fiction is one of my all-time favorite movies. But in reality, Pulp Fiction will always be my favorite.

This film has two main plots that tie into one explosive (literally) climax. Shoshanna is a young Jewish woman who uses her cinema as a chance for revenge against the Nazis for the murder of her family. Aldo Raine leads his group of "Basterds" across France to ruthlessly collect "100 dead Nazi scalps." The plots converge into one of the most insane, but entertaining climaxes that I have ever seen.

Quentin Tarantino sure knows how to craft a fine piece of great entertainment. After watching great direction, great acting, wonderful cinematography, Nazi heads being scalped, guns being fired, buildings getting destroyed, and Nazis being blown to bits, you can't help but feel satisfied. It is not the violence that is satifying, but the way that the story is told.

My favorite epic film, Sergio Leone's 1966 masterpiece The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly contains some of the greatest scenes ever filmed. The "Basterds"opening scene, among others, makes homage to that film. In Leone's film, there is a scene in which "The Bad", played by Lee Van Cleef, slowly rides onto the property of a Mexican family. The beautiful desert scenery is accompanied by Ennio Morricone's memorable score. The opening scene in "Basterds" is pretty much the same. The gorgeous scenery of the rolling French fields is backed by the same Ennio Morricone music which Tarantino has greatly reused. That is just one of the brilliant things about this movie.

The topic that has been brought up about this movie is its strong graphic violence that is meant for laughter. The scalping of the Nazis is very realistic but is still hilarious because of the over the top acting from the characters. The violence reminds me of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, especially the scene with the black knight. Brad Pitts character also graphically carves a swastika in the forehead of the Nazis that he allows to survive. Eli Roth plays the borderline psychopath Bostoner that uses a baseball bat to beat his enemies, the scenes are graphic but hilarious. I couldn't help but feel disturbed at myself for laughing at some of these scenes, but me being a history nerd, I think that the Nazis deserve eveything they got.

Quentin Tarantino is known for his love and passion for movies. It is not surprising to me that the movie's climax takes place at a cinema. He uses his love for movies to guide his way throughout the picture while paying homage to many different movies that inspire him.

I recommend this film to anyone who can handle the graphic violence. It is not as graphic as Steven Speilberg's Saving Private Ryan, but is still very graphic. The movie is great but can be too much for some. But then again, this is a Tarantino flick, just by hearing the name you should be warned. This is my pick for the best film I have seen this year.

Inglourious Basterds

4 out of 4 scalps

La Strada: The Films of Federico Fellini (Part II)

(It is impossible to write about this film without including spoilers.)

"La Strada" is Fellini's first major masterpiece. As I discussed before, his first solo film,"White Sheik," was very entertaining to me, it still failed as a commercial success when it was released. It took Federico a couple of films to make himself an international success. "La Strada" is the film that began the success of Fellini.

Released in 1954 to raves and awards, this Italian Neorealist drama is considered by many as one of the greatest films ever made. When childish Gelsomina (Giulietta Massina) is sold by her impoverish mother to the brutal Zampano (Anthony Quinn), she begins a fateful journey that will forever change her life. Zampano makes his living by traveling Italy as a "Strongman" performer. Stopping in different towns to entertain the crowds. She is sold to the brutal Zampano to become his assistant. He is a man full of hatefullness and violence, and does not want any friends. Gelsomina is a warmhearted young women who is always treated with disrespect by her master. The charactor of Gelsomina reminds me of an italian Charlie Chaplin. Full of love but is not cared for by others.

Italian Neorealism is a film theme that deals with the poor and working class and mostly deals with the difficult economical and moral conditions of post-World War II Italy, reflecting the changes in the minds of Italians and the conditions that they face in everyday life, like poverty and desperation.

The title of "La Strada" is is translated into english as "The Road." The road being a metaphor for life, and the places that we go and the people that we meet. Gelsomina represents the goodness in all, while Zampano represents the hate in all of us.

Their way of travel is by a motorcycle/trailer. They pull of on the side of the road and set up camp, usually on the outskirts of town. Gelsomina begins to love Zampano, trying to help him change his ways. He continuously treats her like a piece of property, telling her what to do and not do. Eventually she leaves Zampano and wonders into town and witnesses an act of another entertainer nicknamed "The Fool." The Fool specializes in being a high-wire artist and clown. Right off the bat we notice that he is full of kind-heartedness towards Gelsomina.

Zampano wonders back into town forces Gelsomina to return to him. We learn that Zampano and The Fool have known each other for years and have not been known to be friends. The Fool and Zampano come to realize that they are going to be performing at the same circus. During Zampano's act, the Fool torments Zampano, Zampano's anger leads them both to be fired and jailed. The Fool is released from jail first and shows Gelomina that there are alternatives in her life that she can do to be happy. He tells her not to leave Zampano because everything has a purpose. After their conversation, the Fool departs and leaves town. Gelsomina now realizes that she need to continue to love and care for Zampano, even though he is the way he is. Her spirits are high.

After a few days of travel, they come across the fool again. He is on the side of the road changing a flat tire. Zampano torments the Fool. The Fool just laughs back at Zampano, which leads to Zampano throwing a punch at him. After only punching him twice, Zampano stops and walks away. Gelsomina witnesses the entire event. As the Fool is walking away, he becomes dizzy and falls on the ground. Gelsomina runs over to him and realizes that he is dead. Zampano's strength killed him. While Zampano didn't mean to kill him, he still doesn't want to get in trouble, he tries to cover up what he has done. Gelsomina spirits have now been broken. The only person who ever cared about her being happy, is now dead. She begins a period of sadness and heartbreak. Her sadness eventually leads to Zampano feeling guilty. Unable to deal with her sadness and his guilt, he leaves her one night while she is sleeping. Zampano never sees her again.

After five or six years, Zampano is still performing his same old act. One day after the act he is walking down the street and hears a familiar tune. It is a tune that Gelsomina used to always play on her trumpet. He stops and talks to the women humming it. He asks her where she had heard the tune from. She tells him that about four years ago they saw a sad, heartbroken young women laying on the shore humming the tune. The towns folk took her in to try and help her, but after a brief period of time she became gravely ill and died. After hearing this Zampano walks away in a state of shock. After finding himself a bar, he gets uncontrollably drunk and is thrown out. A depressed Zampano wanders out to the beach, falls into the sand and begins weeping. The film ends with a shot of him laying face down in the sand.

This film has such a powerful ending. After hearing the story about Gelsomina he begins to regret everything he has ever done bad in his life. All this time he truly loved Gelsomina and cared for her, but never realized it until that moment.He lost all the love he had in his life. He realizes that he has pushed everyone that cared about him away. He realizes that he needs to repent and change his ways. Gelsomina's purpose was to change the the life of a horrific man, and at the cost, he does change.

"La Strada" the most powerful movie that I have ever seen. It is truly my new favorite film. It was the first winner on the Best Foreign Film Oscar. Federico Fellini went on to make many other masterpieces, but I consider La Strada to be his finest. Everyone should see this landmark movie.

Federico Fellini's "La Strada"

4 out of 4 stars