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Critic's Corner
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INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, A Screenplay Quentin Tarentino's screenplay for his celebrated masterpiece Inglourious Basterds was published for all to read in August 2009. The movie, starring Brad Pitt, is now in its first run at theaters across America. If you've never read a screenplay complete with director's comments Tarentino's script will not only entertain but enthrall you. As I read through the 164 pages, it was easy to imagine how the story would play on the big screen. Shosanna Dreyfus, a Jewish teenager sees the murder of her family at the hands of the evil Nazi Colonel Landa known as the Jew Hunter. Shosanna survives and escapes to Paris with a burning desire for vengeance that consumes the rest of her life. Once in Nazi occupied Paris she forges a new identity as the owner and operator of a movie theater. The scene changes. A group of Jewish-American soldiers led by Lieutenant Aldo Raine, a hillbilly from the Tennessee mountains also arrives in Paris. These men have a special mission of not only to kill at least one hundred Nazis each but to scalp them. They are known and feared as "The Basterds." In Paris they will be working with double agent Bridget Von Hammersmark, a famous German actress. They plot a devious plan known only to themselves. Shosanna and her lover and assistant Marcel are unaware of the Basterd's plan and forge one of their own to bring about the end of every leader of the Third Reich and to do it in Shosanna's theater. Goebbels will be showing his latest propaganda film in Shosanna's theater and has invited Hitler, Goring and Bormann as well as an audience of hand-picked German officers to attend. Suspense builds as the date of the filming approaches and all the actors finalize their surprise plots. The climax of the story has a twist you can't see coming. Tension builds to a frenzy helped along by Tarantino's trademark high-intensity dialogue and inventive plotting. As bombs burst in air and with fire raining down, the scene fades to Lt. Aldo's final official or should we say, unofficial deed. It's a master stroke. You might think Tarantino's rewriting history and you would be right. Author David L. Robbins in his introduction to this screenplay writes, "...Tarantino's tastes and talents are on display as brightly as if they too were cast onto a big silver screen... He's in full control of all his material here; the bits from both the past and present. This is Tarantino, headed in a new direction. He evokes an actual world at war. It is plausible and terrific." See the movie, but by all means read this screenplay. Only by doing both will you experience the full impact of Tarantino's theater of the mind. Copyright 2009, Patricia Ann Jones Buy Inglourious Basterds: A Screenplay Patricia Ann Jones is a published writer and has recently retired from her position of 18 years as a reviewer for the Tulsa World newspaper. To comment on this review you may email pattij777@aol.com. |
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