Once upon a time in Nazi occupied France…

“Inglourious Basterds” is a strange sort of war movie, caring little about the facts of the war and more about being an entertaining Jewish revenge story.  The movie begins on the greener pastures of farm country. There is a long conversation over pointless topics that goes nowhere and by the time it’s over several are dead in a quick burst of gunfire. The main villain aside from Hitler is Colonel Hans Landa, a Nazi who travels with the unofficial title of Jew Hunter.  The Basterds themselves are hand-picked American Jews.  This still doesn’t even touch upon the side story of the Jewish woman out for vengeance, and the Upper Reich’s fear of a man called the Bear Jew.      The cast of the film is as strange as it is varied.  Most notably there is the scalp demanding, Tennessee man, called the Apache by his enemies, played by Brad Pitt with a thick accent that is borderline ridiculous.  Eli Roth is the baseball bat-wielding Bear Jew, a casting choice that’s fitting for the character’s violent nature considering Roth is better known for directing “Hostel” and “Hostel 2”.  Mike Myers has a cameo in it as a British General probably because it doesn’t require a Scottish accent.  The best acting in the movie, however, comes from the lesser known actors (at least in America).  Both Mélanie Laurent as Shosanna and Christoph Waltz as Colonel. Hans Landa stands out amongst the largely ensemble cast.      The movie ends much like it begins.  There is a long conversation, although this time with obvious purpose and direction, and then there is an explosion of violence that rips through, killing most of the remaining characters that managed to survive so long.  “Inglourious Basterds”, though strange at times and mysteriously long winded at others, is a very good movie.  History might be written off as boring and character development might be limited to the difference between alive and dead, but it is definitely one of the best movies to come out this summer.