Tense Right Now in Israel. The Jewish

¶ … tense right now in Israel. The Jewish New Year (it's 5773 for those who count) has coincided with a recent wave of anti-American and anti-Jewish sentiment related in part to a recent "incendiary" film that depicts the Muslim prophet Muhammad (Estrin, 2012). It's not as if Israel and Iran were not already archenemies, but tensions are higher now than perhaps ever before. The film in question also threatens to unify anti-Israeli sentiment among both Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims: a phenomenon that understandably frightens not just Israelis but most peace-loving human beings around the world.

Yet another film that can be accurately called incendiary injects much-needed humor into the centuries-old tradition of Jew-hating. That film was issued by legendary director Quentin Tarantino in 2009. Or, we should say, 5770. Called Inglourious Basterds, and spelled deliberately wrong, the film depicts a fictional troop of American assassins on a mission to kill Nazis during World War Two. The film is deeply sarcastic and so silly as to nearly be fluffy in spite of its occasional gore. There are, however, tidbits of truth to the underlying message Tarantino sends about why Israel was created in the first place.

It is only fitting that Inglourious Basterds should be seen, or seen again, on this particular New Year. Rosh Hashana is a holiday about beginnings, not endings. It is a positive, uplifting holiday that is characterized by an ear-wrecking blow into a ram's horn. The holiday celebrates the symbolic creation of the world by God, and is characterized not just by feasting but also by a period of penance, self-work, and introspection. So it is only suitable that the holiday should coincide with deep musings on the creation of the state of Israel during these tense times of 5773.

Inglourius Basterds is not one of Tarantino's best films, by any stretch of the imagination. It does not reach the pinnacles of genius that causes Pulp Fiction to become timeless. The film is quirky, but falls flatter than either Jackie Brown or the Kill Bill series. It's not that the acting is bad; quite the contrary, Brad Pitt is superbly cast and his character is well developed in Inglourius Basterds. Pitt plays Lieutenant Aldo Raine, the head of a band of American soldiers bent on killing Nazis and then scalping them as trophies. Raine is not even Jewish; his heavy southern accent gives that fact away if his name already didn't. However, most of Raine's troops are Jewish boys. The film therefore plays heavily on the stereotype that Jewish men tended to not be soldiers, and were brought up more to be "momma's boy" types than macho jocks like their gentile counterparts. The title of the film, and Pitt's character, also poke liberal fun at uneducated southerners.

There's more to Tarantino's social commentary than that, though. Embedded in Inglourious Basterds is the unspoken desire for revenge. Tarantino captured revenge as a theme more robustly in the Kill Bill series, but here, the writer and director takes revenge comedy to a new level. Most fair-minded folk have at some point or another wished that Hitler and his kind would have been rounded up and killed cleanly and simply before they had the chance to execute their final solution. Not even Jesus could have turned the other cheek to the likes of Hitler, especially given the fact that it was Hitler and other members of Nazi senior management who pulled the trigger on million upon million of people leaving piles of corpses and mounds of tears in their wake. Inglourius Basterds is Tarantino's vision of rewriting history for the good guys. It wouldn't matter if the Basterds succeeded or not. What does matter is that they tried.

Tarantino understands storytelling; of that there is absolutely no doubt. In addition to the titular band of merry militia, the Basterds, we meet Shosanna Dreyfus, played by French actor Melanie Laurent. Dreyfus becomes the film's great martyr: the tragic heroine whose plot to assassinate the Nazis coincides brilliantly with the Basterd's own plans. There are several interlocking threads and characters in Inglourius Basterds. We have the dairy farmers, including Shosanna's family. We have the eight Basterds, including "Bear Jew" Donny Donowitz. Most of the Basterds are the children of recent Jewish immigrants to the United States. Then, we have the members of both the Allied and Nazi military including a rather cameo-esque appearance by Mike Myers as a British officer. Although few of the characters are developed in full, they are done so just enough so the audience can feel sympathy with them. For example, we understand that Shosanna has been living as a sort of undercover Jew during the continued Nazi occupation of her home country. She also has a black boyfriend, which irks the Nazi racists even more, and which garners even greater love for the female protagonist.

The opening scene of Inglourius Basterds depicts a French dairy farmer who is hiding the Dreyfus family beneath his floorboards in Nazi-occupied France. The Nazis have been continually hounding the farmer, who eventually breaks down and gives away the Dreyfus family in order to protect his own. The entire family is murdered in cold blood, except for Shosanna. The young girl escapes and runs off into the forest. Colonel Hans Landa (played by Christoph Waltz) laughs as he lets Shosanna run. Landa has earned himself the nickname the "Jew Hunter." Their paths cross again in Paris, where Shosanna runs the small movie theater she inherited from her aunt. Shosanna and Landa have a face-off scene towards the end of the movie. In the interests of avoiding spoilers, it would be irresponsible to comment on the outcome of that confrontation. Any viewer familiar in the least with Tarantino will not necessarily be surprised by anything that happens in Inglourius Basterds. Which of course, detracts little from the overall effect of the film.

Inglourius Basterds is far from perfect. There are moments the film does not enable the type of deep satisfaction that might come from watching people kill Nazis, which is rather surprising. Even the scalping scenes and those involving Raine's signature swastika in the forehead scarring of his victims: they are comedic but not cathartic.