Stephen Rubra

This film is a masterpiece, which flows effortlessly and seamlessly from one chapter to another without a single weak point or join being evident to the viewer. The casting is literally sublime and the discovery of Christopher Waltz is critical to the films success. He was literally born for the part and it is his best performance to date rendering all other performances irrelevant compared to his portrayal of Hans Landa (similar to Russel Crowe’s performance in Gladiator which in my opinion remains his best performance). The viewer is mesmerised by the performance of Waltz, almost to the point of believing that the story and events were actually real and were being reported as factual, of course the film is almost entirely fiction, although the existence of the Basterds is loosely based on a covert military unit that did apparently exist. The intensity of the bar scene in which Fassbinder eventually blows his cover is riveting from start to finish, and there is no favouritism shown to any particular character (Aldo Raine being the only character that survives the film unblemished or unharmed by any of the events) as most of the main characters end up either dead or scarred in some way - even Landa himself is scarred for life at the hands of Aldo Raine with the swastika carved into his forehead. Overall this is a film that I have watched over 20 times and still counting. Everytime I watch it I see some thing new that I hadn’t seen or noticed before, it is a tapestry of riches that simply never stops giving. If I was on a desert island with only one movie to watch it would be this one.