First off, I believe that this movie is amazing and I personally truly enjoy the way in which Quentin Tarantino interacts and plays with historical moments in his films. The way he is able to change history for the run time of his film is fascinating. In my opinion, he is giving people resolution through historical fantasy and cinema. What person who wasn’t in favor of the Nazi cause wouldn’t enjoy seeing a militant group of Jews go around Nazi-occupied France killing Nazis and eventually Hitler himself. To me, Tarrantino is giving the viewers what the wish happened in history.
This film and Tarantino’s film “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” are both similar in the way that Tarantino changes history in a gruesome way. Initially, when the Sharon Tate murder happened the country was devastated and the entire country would’ve liked nothing more than to see the people who did it ripped apart by a giant pit bull and set on fire. Similarly, everyone who wasn’t a Nazi wanted to see all the head Nazi’s burn alive and be ripped apart by machine guns at the hands of Jews. Tarantino provides gruesome justice and redemption in his historical films, and I enjoy watching them.
My favorite scenes in the film are the ones with Hans Landa. Landa is the ultimate Nazi in the film and is played by Christoph Waltz, who is one of my personal favorite actors. Every scene with him is extremely tense, especially the opening scene and the scene where him and Shoshanna meet again. The opening scene, when Landa arrives on the French farm and questions the man about harboring Jews is extraordinarily tense. From the moment he arrives, you are immediately aware he is a man of high intelligence and is always very prepared and precise. This is shown through his meticulous vocabulary and the way he holds himself and makes himself comfortable in a room. He also takes a very large sip of milk and finishes a tall glass in one gulp, perhaps symbolizing how he doesn’t leave a drop left or how he doesn’t let any Jews escape him. Initially in this scene everything is going well, until Hans takes his pipe out of his pocket, which is symbolism for the shoe that will later be in his pocket. The pipe is much bigger than the French mans, which symbolizes power, and he begins to question him harder. He then stares at him very intensely and the French man breaks, leading to the murder of all the Jews hiding underneath the floor boards, except Shoshanna.
In the scene where Landa and Shoshanna meet again, Landa implies the same intimidation and questioning technique, but this time on Shoshanna. This scene is my absolute favorite scene because Tarantino is able to make a simple dinner conversation, the most intense conversation ever. There is also a moment in this scene when Landa gives Shoshanna that same stare for a second, but then it turns out to be nothing. He also takes very large bites of his strudel, the same way his finished the milk in one bite.
I truly believe that the way Tarantino chooses to interact with and for a little while change is very interesting. I can understand how it can be considered unethical, but I don’t believe it is. I truly believe that he is giving the people who want to see it their own form of redemption and allowing them to leave the theater feeling satisfied and happy.
Ryan's Film Blog 