Inglorious+Basterds

Quentin Tarrantino’s Film “Inglorious Basterds” is a film about a Jewish Rebels “The Basterds” and a Jewish girl, Shoshanna, seeking revenge for the large amount of Jews who were killed. The main theme of the movie is avenging for the Jews. This film has a very ironic tone, which is explored through conflicts, dialogue, and juxtaposition.

The camera shots signify the oppression or hate against the specific race. In 1st chapter of the film, there were two bird-eye shots, one of the Dreyfuses hiding under the wooden deck and the other of the colonel looking for where the sound was from. This shows the oppression and the prejudice against Jews, in addition, it shows how the colonel or the Nazi Party have control over the Jews. In contrary, there is also a worms-eye shot of the Colonel beaming down under the floor boards, giving the point of view of the Dreyfuses under the mercy of the Colonel. Moreover, this also relates to the what Landa claim that he has the attributes of a hawk while Jews have attributes to a rat.

During this scene, tension is created by using the Camera push between the two characters: the colonel and LaPadite. This created a very serious tone to the movie and emphasize that the conflict is between the Nazis and the Jewish population.

This is idea of prejudice and race is evident when the Basterds have their first killings and scalping of Nazi soldiers. The soldiers are in a lower ground while the basterds are spread around the area in higher ground, with the exception of some of them at the same level.

Furthermore, when Shoshanna goes to the restaurant for lunch, upon attempting to get up from her seat, it is shown that there is someone who restricts her from doing that. The audience does not see who it is but from the look on Shoshanna’s face, we know that it is someone who caught her by surprise. The shot also reflects the dominant person (later shown that it is the Colonel) is in a higher position or has control over her.

Another shot that signifies death/revenge is the dutch angle, which is not very noticeable. The Dutch angle is used when ‘The Bear Jew’ gets ready to kill and when the theater is all in flames and in pandemonium.

In addition the cuts between the two characters creates even more tension and allows the audience to know that something bad is about to happen, provided that the Dreyfuses are found.

In terms of editing, I found that a couple of slo-mos were used. Such as when ‘The Bear Jew’ shoots the people in the theater. This emphasizes the significance of killing and how it actually might be overlooked. This shot shows how many bullets are shot from a gun each time its fired for a couple of seconds. It shows that each bullet kills a life and signifies the deaths and revenge. Also, after that shot, it cuts to the people in the theater, still in slo-mo, who get shot by the bullets fired by him. Again it shows the revenge taken for all the innocent lives that were taken as part of Hitler’s idea.

The lighting of the movie is evident in the 1st chapter where only the table is lighted up, and everything else in his house is generally dark. This has an emphasis on what the Colonel has to ‘bring to the table’ or what he has to offer. Also, I think the light in this scene symbolizes the truth. This is because the Colonel puts his documents on the table and demands LaPadite to answer him truthfully. LaPadite then moves from the table and to the darkness, as if he is covering something. Moreover, as he comes back, his face is half lit, which shows that he is in fact hiding something.

Furthermore, in the end, the theater is filled with a very warm lighting, which reflects the bloodshed in the theater and all the death, revenger and hate. It sums up the entire theme of revenge by having a greater impact under warm lighting. Later it is also combined with the cool lighting form the projector, which shows Shoshanna laughing.