Inglourious Basterds is Quentin Tarantino's cult 2009 film with a stunning cast, nominated for eight Oscars. True, he received only one of them. Nevertheless, the picture is included in the list of the best films of the 21st century and has earned many other prestigious prizes and awards.
Plot of the film
It should be noted right away that the picture "Inglourious Basterds" is not a historical reconstruction, but rather a fantasy in the genre of alternative history that is quite close to reality. The events of the film unfold during the Second World War, and at first there are two storylines, which in the end are woven into one incredible event.
Hans Landa, a Reich officer, searches Perier Lapaditta's farm, suspecting that he is hiding Jews. Under the floor, the Germans discover the Dreyfus family and shoot everyone, only eighteen-year-old Shoshanna manages to escape. Hans catches the girl in sight, but for some reason does not shoot.
After a while, the surviving Shoanna changed her biography. Now she is a purebred German woman Emmanuelle Mimieux, the proud owner of a prestigious cinema, which is sometimes visited by the highest ranks of the Reich. The girl is looked after by Frederick Zoller, a German sniper who killed many Jews.
At the same time, an American lieutenant, originally from Tennessee, Aldo Rein gathers a team of Jewish Americans to conduct various sabotage against the Nazis in occupied France. Soon the success of the group is reported to Hitler, who falls into a frenzied rage and demands to destroy the "Bastards". For the habit of removing scalps from executed Nazis, Rhine received the nickname "Apache".
The premiere of the documentary "Pride of the Nation", based on the facts of Zoller's heroic biography, will soon take place at the Emmanueli Cinema. The show will bring together the leadership of the Reich, including Goering, Bormann, Goebbels and Hitler himself. The girl wants to burn down the cinema with these people. The Rhine group pursues the same goal, having received the order to carry out Operation Kino, destroying the high German command while watching the film.
As you know, even the best plan never withstands collision with reality. "Bastards" will have to improvise, and Shonanna's simultaneous actions with the Americans will lead to a completely unexpected result.
Interesting Facts
- The amazing script of the picture, which includes many references, interesting and coded information, combining many genres of cinema, was created by Tarantino for seven whole years.
- According to the director himself, when writing the script, he was influenced by many films about the war, including Eisenstein's "Battleship Potemkin".
- The film was nominated for eight Oscars, but received only one. Of course, it was difficult for Tarantino to compete with the huge number of film masterpieces released in the same year (Avatar, The Dark Knight, Slumdog Millionaire and many others).
- In the original title of the film, which is spelled "Inglourious Basterds", Tarantino deliberately made two egregious spelling mistakes, and this also became a reference to the classic, the 1978 Italian film Quel maledetto treno blindato.
- The picture earned a total of $ 321 million worldwide, and after the premiere, a book was written based on the plot, which became a bestseller.
Main characters
Brad Pitt
The role of the brave and sometimes recklessly bold Aldo Reyna was written specifically for Brad Pitt, the famous American actor and producer. He was born in December 1963 into a religious family in the small town of Shawnee.
After graduation, he entered the University of Missouri, where he studied advertising business and journalism. While working as a barker for a restaurant, he attended acting courses, thanks to which he made his film debut in 1987 in small roles and was engaged in dubbing.
The turning point in Pitt's career was his work in the 1994 film Interview with the Vampire, which was nominated for an Oscar and became a real sensation. In the same year, the work of Brad Pitt in the film "Legends of Autumn" was highly appreciated by critics and audiences.
Since that time, the actor's career has been successful and strewn with awards, and all the media are ringing about his scandalous personal life. Pitt has just finished work on Power, which has already been nominated for Oscars in several nominations.
Melanie Laurent
Laurent is a famous singer, actress and director who was born in 1983 into a Parisian family with Jewish roots. She was surprisingly good at playing the intimidated Shoshanna Dreyfus, who later reincarnated as the self-confident socialite Emmanuelle Mimieux.
Since childhood, Melanie, who lives in Paris, was fond of the world of cinema, visiting all the film sets to which Parisian children were allowed access. She easily got to know editors, cameramen, artists and actors. But the main acquaintance took place in 1998, when the girl spoke to Gerard Depardieu. And soon she was invited to the cast of her debut film "The Bridge Between Two Shores."
For her work in Bastards, the actress received several prestigious awards at once. Currently, Laurent continues to engage in creativity, while working as an actress and director.
Christoph Waltz
The Austrian actor Christoph Waltz played the polyglot, translator, SS officer and hunter of Jews Hans Landu, who came to fame after this work. He was born in 1956 in Vienna to a family of filmmakers and has shown acting talent since childhood. He graduated from the Vienna Theater University, then the School of Acting in New York and made his debut in Austrian cinema in 1981.
At the very beginning of his career, Waltz's agent advised him not to get involved with Hollywood, because with his "real Aryan" appearance, the actor would be doomed to play Nazis in war films. However, Waltz could not resist Tarantino's persuasions and made the right decision - for "Inglourious Basterds" the actor received all the high awards of cinema: from "Oscar" to "Golden Globe".
By the way, in his life Waltz is really a polyglot, fluent in Italian, French, English and German, and his son serves as a rabbi in Israel. To date, the actor continues his career, starring in the fantastic action movie "Alita: Battle Angel" in the role of Dr. Dyson Ido.
Minor roles
Team members of bastards
Hugo Stieglitz, a German who hates Nazism, was played by the legendary Til Schweiger, an actor, screenwriter, producer and director from Germany born in 1963. Details of his vibrant career and a selection of the best films worth watching can be found on Wikipedia and on Kinopoisk.
Donnie Donovitz, nicknamed "The Jew-Bear", was embodied by Eli Roth, a well-known US filmmaker who played an important role in the development of American cinema. Eli rarely works as an actor, directing and producing interesting projects.
Another member of Rhine's team, Lilliput Smithson Yutivich, was played by Benjamin Joseph Novak, an American of Jewish descent born in 1979. Known to the Russian audience for the TV series "Office".
The only corporal in the "Bastards" Wilhelm Wicka was "revived" for the audience by the German actor Gedeon Burckhard, the heir to the cinematic dynasty, born in 1969. He made his film debut as a child, quite by accident caught the eye of a producer, a friend of his mother.
The role of Omar Ulmar was played by the American actor, musician and artist with Indian roots, Omar Doom, who was born in 1976, unknown to Russian audiences. Despite the fact that Tarantino persuaded him to star in his film, the transition from musical creativity to acting has always been painful for Omar, and as a result, he focused on his favorite art, leaving filming in the past.
Another little-known actor and screenwriter, Michael Bacall, appeared in Bastards as Michael Zimmerman. Bacall's parents emigrated to America from Sicily. Michael was born in Los Angeles in the spring of 1973 and from an early age was engaged in writing scripts, which he successfully sold to film studios. He made his debut as an actor in 1989 and is still filming, and at the same time creates comedy plots for films.
The role of Herald Heshberg went to the American actor, comedian Samm Levine, born in 1982, who made his film debut, starring in an episode of the final season of the cult project “Lost”.
