Post by klep on Aug 28, 2017 6:33:53 GMT -6
MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 8/28: Inglourious Basterds
THIS FILM KILLS FASCISTS WEEK!
I don't think anybody expected that an anti-Nazi Tarantino film would lack lots of Nazi killing, but we perhaps underestimated just how far he would go. In Inglourious Basterds he not only indulges our collective revenge fantasy against Nazidom, he actually creates a new timeline by murdering the entire Nazi high command well before the war was over.
It's a brilliant, bloody climax to the film, and cathartic indeed. But for all of Tarantino's flair with the film's bursts of bloody violence, Inglourious Basterds is most remembered for its combative, superficially civil dialog. The opening sequence is indelibly etched in the minds of people who have watched this film, and all by itself earned Christoph Walz his Oscar. There's no actual violence in the scene until the very end, and yet it feels like a knife is being slowly pushed in the more Walz talks. Of course it's all punctuated by a massacre, with one survivor setting up the revenge tale of the rest of the film.
There's a similarly famous scene later on, in which Michael Fassbender's spy and his compatriots are forced into sharing a table with an actual German officer. Again, it's a combative conversation, with incredible suspense as they make their way towards the inevitable reveal of Fassbender's identity. And again it's all ended by a massacre.
So much of the film is a conversation punctuated by an outburst of violence. But there's a reason for that. Bloody violence is the result of fascism, but it's not how fascism starts. Fascism starts with a man (it seems to always be men) talking to you in a civil, reasonable manner about things that are horrible. They act friendly, ingratiating. They want you to know they're just doing their jobs, or they're just trying to make things better for everyone. You're a reasonable person, right; you want to help. At some point you realize that's not a question.
It's never a question. Sooner or later fascism demands compliance, and it backs up that demand with violence. In Inglourious Basterds Tarantino merely shortens the cycle, illustrating the point through repetition. He even manages to include the fascist worship of violence; the centerpiece of the final act is a screening of a propaganda film which shows over and over a man systemically killing other men from his perch on high.
Subtlety is not Tarantino's strong point, but sometimes subtlety is not what's called for. When you're making a film about the evils of fascism you have to be blunt; you have to be black and white because the greys are where fascism thrives; greys are where you can start to think "Hrmm... he may have a point" or "Well, he's got some unsavory positions but he's a really nice guy". Because one you allow fascism to sit at your table - to enter your home - their job is half done. The rest is just them beating you into submission, either with rhetoric or violence.
Leave it to a man who shoots dialog with the same verve as violence to show us how easily one creates space for the other.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 9/4: Modern Times
LABOR WEEK!
Next week we celebrate Labor Day and the working man with the classic Chaplin film Modern Times, the last to feature his Little Tramp character. Join us next week to discuss this flim's gags as well as its class commentary. Modern Times is available on Filmstruck's Criterion channel and for rent at Amazon Video, though it is not free for Prime members.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 8/24: Detroit
Last week's podcast finishes up by discussing Katheryn Bigelow's new Detroit, what it says about America, and how it connects to The Battle of Algiers. We'll have a thread for it on Wednesday. Detroit is still in theaters.
THIS FILM KILLS FASCISTS WEEK!
I don't think anybody expected that an anti-Nazi Tarantino film would lack lots of Nazi killing, but we perhaps underestimated just how far he would go. In Inglourious Basterds he not only indulges our collective revenge fantasy against Nazidom, he actually creates a new timeline by murdering the entire Nazi high command well before the war was over.
It's a brilliant, bloody climax to the film, and cathartic indeed. But for all of Tarantino's flair with the film's bursts of bloody violence, Inglourious Basterds is most remembered for its combative, superficially civil dialog. The opening sequence is indelibly etched in the minds of people who have watched this film, and all by itself earned Christoph Walz his Oscar. There's no actual violence in the scene until the very end, and yet it feels like a knife is being slowly pushed in the more Walz talks. Of course it's all punctuated by a massacre, with one survivor setting up the revenge tale of the rest of the film.
There's a similarly famous scene later on, in which Michael Fassbender's spy and his compatriots are forced into sharing a table with an actual German officer. Again, it's a combative conversation, with incredible suspense as they make their way towards the inevitable reveal of Fassbender's identity. And again it's all ended by a massacre.
So much of the film is a conversation punctuated by an outburst of violence. But there's a reason for that. Bloody violence is the result of fascism, but it's not how fascism starts. Fascism starts with a man (it seems to always be men) talking to you in a civil, reasonable manner about things that are horrible. They act friendly, ingratiating. They want you to know they're just doing their jobs, or they're just trying to make things better for everyone. You're a reasonable person, right; you want to help. At some point you realize that's not a question.
It's never a question. Sooner or later fascism demands compliance, and it backs up that demand with violence. In Inglourious Basterds Tarantino merely shortens the cycle, illustrating the point through repetition. He even manages to include the fascist worship of violence; the centerpiece of the final act is a screening of a propaganda film which shows over and over a man systemically killing other men from his perch on high.
Subtlety is not Tarantino's strong point, but sometimes subtlety is not what's called for. When you're making a film about the evils of fascism you have to be blunt; you have to be black and white because the greys are where fascism thrives; greys are where you can start to think "Hrmm... he may have a point" or "Well, he's got some unsavory positions but he's a really nice guy". Because one you allow fascism to sit at your table - to enter your home - their job is half done. The rest is just them beating you into submission, either with rhetoric or violence.
Leave it to a man who shoots dialog with the same verve as violence to show us how easily one creates space for the other.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 9/4: Modern Times
LABOR WEEK!
Next week we celebrate Labor Day and the working man with the classic Chaplin film Modern Times, the last to feature his Little Tramp character. Join us next week to discuss this flim's gags as well as its class commentary. Modern Times is available on Filmstruck's Criterion channel and for rent at Amazon Video, though it is not free for Prime members.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 8/24: Detroit
Last week's podcast finishes up by discussing Katheryn Bigelow's new Detroit, what it says about America, and how it connects to The Battle of Algiers. We'll have a thread for it on Wednesday. Detroit is still in theaters.