Inglorious Basterds

World War 2. It's a rare topic in that it's something in recent history that has affected the whole planet so significantly that nearly every country looks back on it. It is a reflection of a violent and turbulent time for humanity, and it is also the most popular period to set a war movie.
You know it's true, nearly every war movie to come out since the 40's has taken place during WWII. John Wayne, Gregory Peck, all the cinema greats have gone to battle during this great conflict on the silver screen. Which brings up the point that it is probably one of the most cliched kinds of movies ever made.
Really, it is. I love films like "Patton" and "Saving Private Ryan", don't think I"m bashing on them. They are great war films and do honor to the brave men that fought and died for what they believed was right, but they are also a bit overly pretentious and try way to hard to be realistic in "Ryan's" case. As movies, they kind of down play the importance OF the action for the cold hard HOW about what happened.
So what does this have to do with "Inglorious Basterds"? EVERYTHING! What sets this flick apart from "Saving Private Ryan" or "Patton" is that it doesn't try to be an homage to the actual event, it just tries to be an interesting "what if..." movie, and for that this is hand down my favorite.
The plot involves a group of American Jewish soldiers that are dropped into Nazi occupied France and each have a mission to turn in 100 Nazi scalps as part of a deal they have with their Commanding Officer played by Brad Pitt. The main conflict is they are presented with an opportunity to take out the big four players of the Third Reich at a theater premiere, but nothing really goes as planned.
It's a very well crafted film and shows all the love and effort that Tarantino put into it for the better part of 10 years. All the characters are fleshed out and interesting. The story flows with a varying and gripping pace, which is gracefully kept up with by Sally Menke I might add, and I must admit the ending is just sooo damn good but I dare not spoil for those that haven't seen it.
What I love most is that watching this movie feels less to me like seeing a war film as it is like reading a gripping historical fiction novel. Like before, this movie doesn't ignore what actually happened in real life, it more suggests an alternative. And I have to admit, I actually like the result. It's not a "Dirty Dozen" clone like I'd originally thought from the previews. It's a lot more subtle and leaves room for a surprising amount of suspense. The scene in the tavern is a particularly good example of this. This movie just starts and never stops until the end credits and even then you can't get the images out your mind, mostly thanks to the well crafted photography by the always impressive Robert Richardson. It's definitely my pick for best picture of 2009 and I'd give particular attention to the performance of the film's villain Col. Landa, played by Christoph Waltz.
This man is fucking creepy! I mean he shows up in the first scene and instantly has the sense of being an evil son of a bitch and you just love hating him. Every scene he's in I would say could put Hannibal Lector to shame any day, yes I went there! Seriously he's like if Sherlock Holmes was a Nazi. But what I found most interesting about him is that he does all this a with an almost child-like glee. He's proud of all he does and doesn't seem to think he'll ever get killed or pay consequences for his actions, and Waltz captures him so brilliantly that the line between actor and character is almost nonexistent.
All in all if you haven't seen this all ready, you should. It's a very good film, and with the films coming out today that's asking a lot. At least here you get to see Nazis get the living shit beat out of them with a baseball bat.