Forget living to see the day a black man would be President; did you ever think you would live to see the day Hitler would finally be murdered on film?
I didn't.
I thought that it was my fate to sit through film after film secretly (hopelessly) praying that this time, maybe, just maybe, this time they would get Hitler - that it was only right I should walk out of each WWII film dejected and disappointed but resigned to reality. I believed that I would never experience the forbidden, blissful catharsis of seeing Hitler's body riddled with bullets until unrecognizable.
And then it happened! I could barely believe my eyes! I wanted to grab the person sitting next to me and demand of them, "Are you seeing this?! Tell me it is true!"
Leave it to Quentin Tarantino to remember that film is not merely a medium for historical reenactment - it can also produce fantasy! (Who knew?) While fantasy was, in fact, film's original aim, it was accidentally buried under 195 min. of "Schindler's List" in the 1990's. Happily it back from the dead and kicking.
For an otherwise flawless film, I have one criticism ... Exactly who's idea was it to include Bridget von Hammersmark as a good guy? I am not a huge fan of feminism but, I am afraid I am going to have to level a sexism charge against Tarantino here. Who creates the pan ultimate dream of Jewish revenge against the Nazi's and then decides to include a beautiful blonde German woman on the side of right!? Naturally, no male Jewish viewer will have a problem being given the opportunity to shamlessly eye hump the "good shiksa", but what about the female Jewish viewers? Nice way to smack half your audience in the face.
Moreover, Diane Kruger's performance only served to prove Nietzsche right when he stated that the German people have no ability to produce rhythm or tempo in their speach. Kruger seemed plainly perplexed by the "fast talking, girl Friday" lingo, leading one to believe she memorized her lines phonetically. To make matters worse, Kruger's air-headed character directly caused the early death of the only attractive German male in the film, Til Schweiger in the role of Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz.
I didn't.
I thought that it was my fate to sit through film after film secretly (hopelessly) praying that this time, maybe, just maybe, this time they would get Hitler - that it was only right I should walk out of each WWII film dejected and disappointed but resigned to reality. I believed that I would never experience the forbidden, blissful catharsis of seeing Hitler's body riddled with bullets until unrecognizable.
And then it happened! I could barely believe my eyes! I wanted to grab the person sitting next to me and demand of them, "Are you seeing this?! Tell me it is true!"
Leave it to Quentin Tarantino to remember that film is not merely a medium for historical reenactment - it can also produce fantasy! (Who knew?) While fantasy was, in fact, film's original aim, it was accidentally buried under 195 min. of "Schindler's List" in the 1990's. Happily it back from the dead and kicking.
For an otherwise flawless film, I have one criticism ... Exactly who's idea was it to include Bridget von Hammersmark as a good guy? I am not a huge fan of feminism but, I am afraid I am going to have to level a sexism charge against Tarantino here. Who creates the pan ultimate dream of Jewish revenge against the Nazi's and then decides to include a beautiful blonde German woman on the side of right!? Naturally, no male Jewish viewer will have a problem being given the opportunity to shamlessly eye hump the "good shiksa", but what about the female Jewish viewers? Nice way to smack half your audience in the face.
Moreover, Diane Kruger's performance only served to prove Nietzsche right when he stated that the German people have no ability to produce rhythm or tempo in their speach. Kruger seemed plainly perplexed by the "fast talking, girl Friday" lingo, leading one to believe she memorized her lines phonetically. To make matters worse, Kruger's air-headed character directly caused the early death of the only attractive German male in the film, Til Schweiger in the role of Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz.
I for one, was not sympathetic to von Hammersmark's untimely demise in the film. Though I guess women could let this slide for the man who made "Death Proof".
