Inglorious Basterds

Inglorious Basterds is a 2 hour and 33 minutes

film released on August the 19th in 2009; it was
directed by Quentin Tarantino and Eli Roth.

Why I chose this film

Inglorious Basterds ingenious opening had me hooked in
an instant. Quentin Tarantinos impeccable, unique audiovisual style is highly addictive and toxic;Tarantino
ingeniously overclocks suspense to its maximum potential
in order to grip the audiences full attention.
The most impressive aspect of this film was that it is
not truly a thriller.I was incredibly impressed by the
way Tarantino can simply warp through genres although
Tarantino is more or less anonymous in the world of
Thriller he is no stranger to suspense, for example He
creates such intense and suspenseful scene through a
simple conversation, the audio is purposely minimalistic
and it consists of just the silence of the room and the
Diegetic sound of the men conversing.
Tarantinos film Inglorious Basterds as a whole is a
Adventure/Drama. However, Tarantino somehow succeeds to
make the first 10 minutes into a pure, classic Thriller
through key thriller techniques therefore making it an
undoubtedly interesting opening to analyse. I will be
analysing the techniques Tarantino uses to embed the
Thriller genre into his Dramatic adventure film

Summary
Inglorious Basterds is a dramatic fictional war film that
involves a group of cynical Nazi killers who plot to
assassinate Nazi Germany's political leaders. This group
stalk and examine their prey in Nazi-occupied France as a
Jewish cinema owner driven by hate and revenge develops

tactics to take down high ranking SS officers during the

premiere of a high profile German propaganda film. Their
aim is to essentially strike fear into the heart of Adolf
Hitler, to do this The Basterds had to be hired by Lt.
Raine which includes Sgt. Donnie Donowitz (Eli Roth) and
Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz (Til Schweiger)

Enigma Codes
Tarantino does not include many enigmas within the
opening, he does this to purposely allow the audience to
question and focus on the main enigma which is the
missing Jewish family. By eliminating other enigmas,
Tarantino allows the audience to ponder and generate
questions in their minds; this draws the audience in to
the film and makes them focus their undivided attention
on the film because they want answers. That is the genius
of Tarantinos minimalistic Enigma Code.
The only other enigma we begin to ponder is the basic
question, why? Why does Colonel Hans Landa pester
LaPadite? We can assume this is the first time they have
met, on the other hand we can also make the assumption
LaPaditte expected his arrival due to him hiding the
Jewish family as we find out near the end of the opening.

How are the characters established & represented?

The first character we meet is LaPadite, straight away we
can tell he is a hardworking father who knows nothing but
labour and to care for his children. The audience can
instantly insinuate this father is clutching on to straws
trying to feed and care for his family. This is mainly

evidenced by his torn, ragged clothes; clearly he

sacrifices lifes luxuries to ensure that his daughters
have that luxury, this is evidenced by the sophisticated
elegance of their dresses. LaPadite seems to also be a
man of many stresses, this is evidenced by the stern look
on his face as he hacks at the wood with an unidentified
intention, clearly something is going through his head,
perhaps he chooses wood chopping as a way to filter out
stress or anger however it can be argued he is just being
portrayed as a stereotypical man because that at the time
(1941) men were stereotypically always seen as strong,
dominant and always taking care of any sort of manual
labour, LaPadites stereotypical nature is also seen
through the way he speaks to women, he orders his wife to
get water for him and then orders the women to go inside
where there is shelter and protection, here we see the
ideology that men in the 1940s were superior to women
and were often served by women, perhaps we cannot blame
LaPadite for his stereotypical ways because it was the
ideology of the time however I believe Tarantino
purposely represents him like this to emphasize on the
way the world has progressed and moved on from such
inequality.

In contrast, despite previous assumptions, LaPadite

displays the characteristics of a very calm and composed
man. For example, Hans Landa and LaPadite may sit next to
each other to have a civilised conversation however their
sizeable difference in class and power segregates the
rooms equality, here we see the shift of power and the
influence that the Nazis have on ordinary people as
Tarantino is trying to portray however LaPadites
composed nature neutralises the rooms tension and
counters that power, as a stereotypical man he regains
power over his territory but not through brute strength
like stereotypical men, through a calm and composed
manner.

Secondly,
second
character

the
were

introduced to is Colonel Hans Landa of the SS. Straight

away we know from contextual knowledge that he serves the
Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler as one of his personal
bodyguards. The SS later became one of the most powerful
and feared organizations in all of Nazi Germany,
therefore we can make the implication through these facts
that since Hans Landa originates from such a powerful and
feared background/organisation, he has simply inherited
and adapted to that ruthless and violent nature.
Hans Landa has also developed a sly, distinctive, wolflike nature which is only not shown through words but
through tension and the atmosphere. For example, Hans
Landas goal was to try and seek out the missing Jewish
family hence why he goes to LaPadites house. In the
house his wolf-like nature is hinted at throughout the
whole conversation inside the cabin because we as the
audience know that he already knows LaPadite has had some
form of involvement in the disappearance of the Jewish
family because of the mood and atmosphere of the room
itself, the room develops a voice as soon as LaPadite and
Hans sit down, the tension begins and we can already tell
through not only the suspenseful atmosphere but also
through Hanss confidence and composure that he already
knows something however he does not acknowledge it,
instead he only hints at it Someone is very successfully
hiding them and tries to draw information out of
LaPadite despite already knowing the truth.

Location

The location despite not being a thriller film is

actually typical of the thriller genre, the opening is
mostly filmed within the cabin, a confined area with
little room for the characters. This pushes the film
opening further into the thriller genre as it links
heavily to the Captivity Thriller sub genre. Films such
as Saw, Panic room, Buried come to mind as we are
squashed into the room with Hans and LaPadite. Tarantino
purposely chooses a small space as it makes the audience
feel slightly intimidated and claustrophobic; the
audience can then feel the same emotions and tension in
the room as LaPadite as he is being question by Hans.
The small, enclosed space also allows suspense to be
created and controlled easily which is much more
effective than having a big room with more people as the
suspense would not be as personal and direct as it is
with only two people enclosed in a room, it leaves a much
bigger impact, one that hooks the audience instantly.

Camera and Editing techniques

The editing would be deemed as quite slow paced.
Tarantino deliberately chooses slow transitions to ensure
the dramatic suspense that is created through the slow
pace does not fizzle away. For example we are introduced
to the opening through a fade in effect, a rather slow
effect, that reveals the establishing extreme long shot,
the extreme long shot is then held for a few short
seconds allowing the audience to understand and
familiarise themselves with the location. The camera cuts
to a low angle shot then pans upwards slowly and reveals
LaPadite hacking at the wood, all this is done slowly
which is in fact not typical of the thriller genre as the
thriller genre would consist of very fast paced editing,
close up shots and quick cuts. it can be argued that this
is because the film is not a thriller film however I
believe Tarantino does this as slower pacing is more
relaxed and thoughtful, Tarantino tries to maximise the
relaxation in the audience before he introduces the
suspense because this eliminates any sort of confusion,

it allows the audience to fully understand the storyline

rather than be distracted and confused by the array of
fast cuts and close ups.
The shots used in this film opening are specifically
chosen to compliment certain scenes. Tarantino rarely
uses close ups or extreme close ups in this opening, they
are intended to connote emotions within the character
that cannot be seen via longshots. However Tarantino
chooses to completely abandon this Thriller genre key
feature, I believe it is because Tarantino does not
actually want to reveal any more information through
emotions, he chooses to use the film opening as a puzzle
for the audience in order to make them think for
themselves. This adds a unique feel to the film itself;
it makes the audience want to watch further in order to
gain the answer they crave. This also highlights the
theme of an enigma, a key Thriller feature. Tarantino
disperses power to the audience through the lack of close
ups, this allows them to create their own enigmas and
possibilities which makes the opening and the film a
whole lot more intriguing.

The few close ups used in this film opening add to the
suspense of the opening in high doses. For example, as
Hans is questioning LaPadite the camera cuts to a close
up of the pen scribbling down the answers. This
solidifies the suspense as it reminds the audience of an
interrogation as if Tarantino has once again changed his
theme to a Detective thriller film. Tarantino enjoys
hopping from different themes and genres and this time he
does it ingeniously through the close ups, he does this
to give the audience a taste of different forms of
suspense as Tarantinos main goal is to maximise the
suspense in the opening.

Use of sound

The use of non-diegetic becomes highly significant in

this opening; Tarantino manipulates the setting through
Non-Diegetic music.
Firstly, as LaPadites wife spots the SS soldiers
incoming we hear what seems to be a merge of classical
music and western style music. Tarantino merges the two
contrasting musical genres together to set the mood and
manipulate the setting. For example, we can insinuate
from the interruption of the widely prominent classical
symphony by the equally acclaimed Western style rhythm
that LaPadite is a man of split personalities, one being
the calmer and composed man and the other being the quick
thinking ruthless cowboy like man. The classical music
never has a chance to finish due to the western rhythm;
perhaps this is a metaphor for LaPadite as he is
constantly trapped in a loop of frustration where he
never achieves full tranquillity.

The western rhythm could be warning the audience of a

potential old fashioned standoff. Cowboys used to stand
in silence until one of them draws the gun and pulls the
trigger inevitably ending the opponents life; this is
similar to the opening. Although LaPadite and Hans do not
sit in silence we can tell the tension is high in the
room as both men despise each other, therefore the
audience are caught observing a verbal standoff waiting
for one of the two men to tell the truth, LaPadites
truth being that he is hiding the family and Hanss truth
being that he already knows.

Titles
This film opening in fact did not consist of any titles.
The only title visible was 1941 which was used to
establish the time of the story

Intended Target Audience

This film seems to be aimed at a more mature audience
from the age 16+. The film is based on quite a sensitive
topic and therefore should only appeal to a more mature
audience who have more knowledge of Nazi Germany as they
understand that this film is not to be taken seriously
rather than a younger audience who may be more affected
and saddened by this topic.