NEWS > ENTERTAINMENT > INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS CASTS NAZI’S AS HEAVIES, AGAIN

INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS CASTS NAZI’S AS HEAVIES, AGAIN

May 16 2009

Cannes, France – Quentin Tarantino has made a career on the glorification of traditional villains. From jewellery robbers, to hit men, to gun runners, to assassins Tarantino’s success as a filmmaker has always come at the expense of the seedier side of society. Things change though and so do filmmakers, something that can be
seen very clearly in Tarantino’s newest film, ‘Inglourious Basterds in which he rows with the current and casts Nazi’s as villains, following in the nest of cinematic and historical tradition.

The plot of ‘Inglourious Basterds’ sets a group of Jewish-American soldiers bent on revenge after a group of Nazi soldiers, similar in plot to Tarantino’s last film, 2007’s ‘Death Proof’ where a group of women seek revenge on a psychopathic car driver. Both films mark a departure from the director’s earlier works which often cast the traditional villains as the main characters and heroes of the story. The depiction of Nazi’s as villains is not without controversy though as the role of the traditional villain begins to change and Nazi’s gain more understanding.

“There are certain groups and individuals who always seems cast as the villains. Nazi’s, terrorists, child molesters, and people with superpowers and a taste for revenge are without fail the
antagonists of movies. There are some villains that go back and forth between heroism and villainy, but select groups never have the chance at being the good guys no matter who makes the movie,” said Scrape TV Entertainment analyst Tracey Temple. “Look at the case of the mafia. There are very few movies in which the mafia is cast in the villain role and films like the Godfather series and ‘Goodfellas’ glorify the lifestyle. Serial killers, vigilantes, bank robbers, even zombies come off looking good in most movies but Nazi’s never catch a break, even from someone like Tarantino.”

Nazism of course was a political ideology represented by individuals presentingthemselves as Nazi’s. Nazism led to the outbreak of World War II and the systematic murder of millions of Jews and others in the popularly termed ‘Holocaust’. Since the end of the war various racist organizations have adopted the term.

“If anyone was going to cast the Nazi’s as the good guys you would think it would be Tarantino. His career has been built on glorifying criminal behaviour and the one movie thus far that did the opposite was his more poorly received film. The plot of this film very well could have been about a group of Nazi’s bent on killing a group of Jews or homosexuals for taking their jobs or muddying their race. Then we would have had a Tarantino movie,” continued Temple. “It is an unfortunate truth that as artists age their appetites change. For some it is fiscal, for others it is boredom, and for some it’s just losing track of the plot. However it happens, sometimes artists just lose what made them great.”

Tarantino has not had a major box office success since ‘Pulp Fiction’ which was released in 1994. That film, his second, is also widely considered his most significant creative achievement. The complicated story about philosophical hit men, an angry crime lord, and corrupt boxer firmly established Tarantino as the hero of the anti-hero, something which has limited his box office zing.

“To say that ‘Death Proof’ was a box office flop is a massive understatement. It was nothing short of a disaster and he had to be aware that if he didn’t pull do something
different he was going to be relegated to the past, as that director who made ‘Pulp Fiction’. The thing is World War II movies don’t really do all that well financially and so he may have compromised his artistic principles for no reason,” continued Temple. “If he wants to really cement himself as bankable director he should try and get into the big dumb action movie fray. Those films have clearly drawn good guys and bad guys and make tons of money. He could make the next Transformers movie and just forget about this whole trying to be an artist thing. Right now he’s trying to make money and not compromise his principles but that’s a tough thing to do. Frankly, if he had made the Nazi’s the good guys, he probably would have made more money.”

It’s not clear what Tarantino’s next film will be or if he will involve child molesters or terrorists.            

Samantha Dryden, Entertainment Correspondent

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