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mollyporterBack in September I posted about my initial reaction to Inglorious Basterds
Since then, I've seen the movie twice more, read a bunch of interviews with the actors and others involved in the process, and pretty much come to the conclusion that the movie is just as if not more fabulous than I initially believed it to be. The thing about it that did take some distance and thought to really comprehend, to be able to articulate rather than just to feel in your gut, is the movie's almost cleansing quality. The bizarre sense of cultural relief that comes from expressing decades of pent up anger and horror that have haunted us and still do haunt us. One of the things that really made that clear in my mind was Eli Roth's father writing an article for the Jewish Journal entitled My Son Killed Adolf Hitler
He speaks about his reactions on watching the film, and discusses the difference between factual and emotional history in a very interesting way. The film captures what Sheldon Roth terms "an emotional dream" that is not mere fantasy because it is based in life and true experience. He really touches on something significant in the final paragraph where he recalls overhearing a conversation between a 14 year old and his father:
I did not live through the events of World War II, or the Holocaust. I'm 22 years old, born over 4 decades after that war's end. I've lost track of how many generations my family has been in America, and my parents are protestants. But my grandfather fought in that war, and served proudly. My history recognizes that enemy. My entire life, Hitler and his Nazis have been held up by my culture as the pinnacle of evil in this world. The feelings of horror at learning about the Holocaust, the raw impotence of the allied forces inability to do anything about it, it is a horror that has been relived in my cultural and emotional history many times - I nearly collapsed in grief at the Holocaust Museum in DC when I turned the corner and was faced with the shoes recovered from the death camps, and I cried on my friend's couch as I watched Easy Company discover the camp in the miniseries Band of Brothers. These are my experiences, but they are shared by many.
We live in a culture that carries these events heavily on our shoulders, and Tarantino brilliantly, artfully captured that emotional history in his film, and he allowed us to release those emotions. He allowed us to leave the theater empowered, victorious, and acutely loosed from the clutched of that cultural grief. I couldn't agree more with Sheldon Roth's assertion that while the facts of the movie may be false, the emotions are entirely true.
I could talk all day about the merits of this movie. The art direction, the casting, the genius script. Name an Oscar category and I'll tell you a reason the Basterds deserve to win it. But it's the reason I've articulated above that most strongly makes me believe that it truly is the best picture of the year.
Since then, I've seen the movie twice more, read a bunch of interviews with the actors and others involved in the process, and pretty much come to the conclusion that the movie is just as if not more fabulous than I initially believed it to be. The thing about it that did take some distance and thought to really comprehend, to be able to articulate rather than just to feel in your gut, is the movie's almost cleansing quality. The bizarre sense of cultural relief that comes from expressing decades of pent up anger and horror that have haunted us and still do haunt us. One of the things that really made that clear in my mind was Eli Roth's father writing an article for the Jewish Journal entitled My Son Killed Adolf Hitler
He speaks about his reactions on watching the film, and discusses the difference between factual and emotional history in a very interesting way. The film captures what Sheldon Roth terms "an emotional dream" that is not mere fantasy because it is based in life and true experience. He really touches on something significant in the final paragraph where he recalls overhearing a conversation between a 14 year old and his father:
For me, one of the most interesting debates over the merits of this film occurred while eavesdropping in a cinema men’s room. A 14-year-old boy heatedly insisted to his dad that the burning of the Nazis was immoral, against everything he had been brought up to believe. The father just as heatedly told his son that his son did not understand the context; revenge was justifiable in special circumstances. The feelings of each were valid, each based on their own lives, and only different experiences would ever alter those feelings. I, on the other hand, have nurtured a set of feelings for seven decades. I wanted to lean over to the father and son and say, “My son killed Adolf Hitler!” But that’s just the Jewish parent in me.
I did not live through the events of World War II, or the Holocaust. I'm 22 years old, born over 4 decades after that war's end. I've lost track of how many generations my family has been in America, and my parents are protestants. But my grandfather fought in that war, and served proudly. My history recognizes that enemy. My entire life, Hitler and his Nazis have been held up by my culture as the pinnacle of evil in this world. The feelings of horror at learning about the Holocaust, the raw impotence of the allied forces inability to do anything about it, it is a horror that has been relived in my cultural and emotional history many times - I nearly collapsed in grief at the Holocaust Museum in DC when I turned the corner and was faced with the shoes recovered from the death camps, and I cried on my friend's couch as I watched Easy Company discover the camp in the miniseries Band of Brothers. These are my experiences, but they are shared by many.
We live in a culture that carries these events heavily on our shoulders, and Tarantino brilliantly, artfully captured that emotional history in his film, and he allowed us to release those emotions. He allowed us to leave the theater empowered, victorious, and acutely loosed from the clutched of that cultural grief. I couldn't agree more with Sheldon Roth's assertion that while the facts of the movie may be false, the emotions are entirely true.
I could talk all day about the merits of this movie. The art direction, the casting, the genius script. Name an Oscar category and I'll tell you a reason the Basterds deserve to win it. But it's the reason I've articulated above that most strongly makes me believe that it truly is the best picture of the year.
