Assuming you’ve read the title of this article, you would know that the movie I chose to analyze for this project is none other than Inglourious Basterds, Directed by Quentin Tarantino. Since roughly five years ago, after glimpsing Pulp Fiction for the first time, I’ve grown into quite a fan of his. His use of non-linear story lines, abrasive sex and violence, eloquent dialogue, and artistic character development have earned him the acclamation of his peers and critics alike. Django and The Hateful Eight, two other renowned movies by Tarantino, came in close second and third; but In the end I chose Inglourious Basterds because of the palpable tension that permeates multiple scenes throughout the movie created by various cinematic techniques. So with that, I’ll just dive right in beginning with the opening scene.
The movie opens with the main credits in an old-timey font while a western sounding orchestra plays. Most modern day movies show all of the credits at the end but this is a trademark aspect of Tarantino’s film-making; making the movie feel vintage. As a bit of an aside, the entirety of Tarantino’s most recent film The Hateful Eight, was filmed on refurbished 70mm cameras. As the credits and the music fade to a halt, we are offered our first piece of vital context through textual narration; “Chapter One: Once upon a time…In Nazi occupied France…1941”. The scene opens with wide-angle shot depicting an idyllic french farm scene with a man mid frame swinging an axe. The next frame is a upward facing closeup of the man, through this we gain a sense of the man’s general appearance, as well as an air of his formidable nature. A stoic expression chiseled into his face. Next the camera cuts to a woman hanging sheets. As she does so we start to hear the low rumble of what we can only assume is a car engine somewhere off-screen. As she pulls back the sheet all within the same shot, our suspicions are confirmed as we glimpse a convoy of vehicles bustling down the road towards the farm. Upon seeing the cars a Spanish rendition of “Fur Elise” slices through the calm afternoon and the women calls out to who we now recognize as her father; “Papa!”. Through the foreboding, slow accelerando of the piece as well as the characters reaction upon seeing the cars and through the context given just prior, it’s safe to assume the visitors are Nazis. This is a good example of how cinematic techniques can convey the nature of a scene without needing dialogue.
Now let’s jump ahead a bit farther into the scene to the pinnacle moment. At this point it has been established that the nature of the Nazi’s visit is to look for Jews in hiding. Colonel Hans Landa of the SS is interviewing the man who we now know as Perrier Lapadite as to the whereabouts of his absent Jewish neighbors. This is a very intimate conversation depicted by alternating close up shots of both men. While Lapadite lists off the members of the family, there is a long panning shot that orbits the two men. As the camera falls on Lapadite, the camera unexpectedly pans down slowly, down his body to his feet, and into the floorboards where it’s revealed the Jewish family is hiding. After a long suspenseful winding dialogue between the two men, Lapadite who is hiding his friends reluctantly relinquishes their location. As Colonel Hans Landa asks him to point out the areas in which they are hiding, a growing dissonant sound warns us of the grim events about to transpire. As they infantry enter the home and ready themselves to shoot into the floorboards, the music gets progressively faster and louder until the cacophony of sound matches the horrendousness of the act.
One member of the family survives however and runs out and away from the house. The camera angle is from within the house with the doorway centered. There’s a fair amount of symmetry in this shot with the black walls on either side framing the scene as she desperately runs into the field (still centered within the doorway). As she runs farther into the distance, the Colonel steps into the doorway following her, eclipsing the light with his black attire creating a silhouette. This would prove to representative of the entire movie as well as WWII itself, the Colonel representing the Nazis and the woman representing the Jews; the dark chasing the light. In this instance the use of lighting gives us a very literal interpretation of the nature of the characters.
Now let’s jump farther ahead to a tense scene set in a basement pub. Four undercover agents sit down to drink only to find that a high ranking Nazi is also inconveniently there. The man is suspicious and so begins the game of cat and mouse as he tactfully inquires about them. As the dialogue transpires the camera moves from either side of the table, giving us repeated over the shoulder shots of each character. Even if they were not talking, using these camera angles allows the viewer to infer that there is some form of discourse or interaction going on between the characters. Alternating close up shots of each character’s face as the scene grows more tense allows us to see the subtle nuance of each character’s facial expressions. Through this technique the viewer gains a sense of the battle of nerve and wit transpiring underneath a friendly facade; which otherwise may be misinterpreted. Another over the shoulder close up of the Nazi general as one of the spies holds up three fingers allows the viewer to see what the characters cannot; he now knows they are spies. Through minute changes in his facial expression we see that his mind changed the second the American holds up his three fingers; stuff is about to go down.