“Inglourious Basterds”
Starring Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger, Mélanie Laurent, Daniel Brühl
Released: Aug. 21, 2009

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While this is a disgustingly violent film (as are all Tarantino films), it was entertaining.

I'VE NEVER BEEN one to flinch at violence that is important for a story. I love World War II movies, or any war movie for that matter.

But, put me in a dark room with any of the "Scream" movies, and you had better hope that don't I deafen your ears or cut off your hand circulation out of fear.

Going into director/writer Quentin Tarantino's latest film, "Inglorious Basterds," with fellow Gargoyle reporter Jenny Cooke, I did not anticipate how frightening most of the film would be. I don't think there was a single scene without guts and gore!

The film starts in Nazi-occupied rural France. A dairy farmer (Denis Menochet) and his three daughters are hiding a Jewish family underneath the floorboards.

A German SS officer known as the "Jew Hunter" (Christoph Waltz) comes to the home and convinces the father to confess.

The Nazis shoot at the floorboards and kill the entire family, except 19-year-old Shosanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent), who escapes.

Flash forward a few years and we're in Paris. Shosanna Dreyfus is now Emmanuelle Mimieux, the owner of a movie theater and admired by an infamous Nazi soldier, Fredrick Zoller (Daniel Brühl).

The smitten Fredrick is set to star in a movie glorifying his slaughter of 300 Italians that will premiere at Emmanuelle's theater. Meanwhile, Emmanuelle is plotting her revenge against the Nazis for killing her family.

At the same time, the "Basterds," a special detachment of Jewish-American soldiers, are plotting to sabotage the film's premiere, which promises the attendance of some Germany's highest-ranking officials, including Adolf Hitler himself (Martin Wuttke).

Just FYI, the Basterds are particularly ruthless. They scalp every German they kill, and one member, known as the "Bear Jew" (Eli Roth), beats his Nazi victims to death with a baseball bat. And yes, Tarantino does show the scalping process (so now you can see Nazi brain on the big screen).

To make sure they spread terror among enemy ranks, the Basterds leave one German witness alive after every attack, but only after they carve a swastika in the survivor's forehead.

The film is broken up into five chapters: "Once Upon A Time … In Nazi Occupied France," "Inglourious Basterds," "German Night in Paris," "Operation Kino," and "Revenge of the Giant Face." I found the conception of chapters in a film to be interesting. Tarantino does a marvelous job in making a complex film with two very different plots come together in a coherent way. The chapters make the flow smoother and easier to understand.

The music and the cinematography of the film are also excellent. I particularly like the depiction of Emmanuelle getting ready for the glamourous Nazi premiere. Her gorgeous red dress looks stunning against her loose dirty blonde locks. As she applies her blush, she makes battle streaks to David Bowie's "Cat People (Putting Out The Fire)." I've never seen a scene I liked so much of a girl applying makeup.

The film has my three favorite actors: Laurent, Brühl, and Diane Kruger as a double agent named Bridget von Hammersmark. Oh yeah, and it also has Brad Pitt (if you're a fan, unlike me!), who plays 1st Lt. Aldo Raine, leader of the Basterds.

Overall, the film is well done, but quite provocative. At times the action and dialogue are so over the top that Tarantino is clearly aiming for laughs. I'm not sure how I feel about trying to make a comedy about World War II atrocities. It is tough to laugh when people are being slaughtered and tortured, even in response to slaughter and torture.

Although violence is a Quentin Tarantino trademark, this film is remarkably violent. So, please, viewer discretion is advised. As entertaining as this film is, watching swastikas being cut into Nazi heads is just gross.

"Inglourious Basterds" is currently playing at the Goodrich Savoy 16, 232 W. Burwash, Savoy.

"Inglourious Basterds" AT A GLANCE

• Starring: Brad Pitt (Lt. Aldo Raine), Mélanie Laurent (Shosanna Dreyfus), Christoph Waltz (Col. Hans Landa), Daniel Brühl (Pvt. Fredrick Zoller), Diane Kruger (Bridget von Hammersmark)
• Directed by: Quentin Tarantino
• Written by: Quentin Tarantino
• Genre: Action, Drama, War
• Rated: R
• Runtime: 153 min.
• Release date: Aug. 21, 2009
• Summary (from IMDb): In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a group of Jewish-American soldiers known as the "Basterds" are chosen specifically to spread fear throughout the Third Reich by scalping and brutally killing Nazis. The Basterds soon cross paths with a French-Jewish teenage girl who runs a movie theater in Paris that is targeted by the soldiers.