Tarantino: Changing History

History will tell us that Adolf Hitler’s death came at his own hands in April of 1945 due to the fact that the Allies were rapidly approaching and he was sure to face charges for all his crimes against humanity. However, Quentin Tarantino would have us believe something completely different. He would have us believe that Adolf met his demise in a movie theatre in France at the hands of an American Jewish soldier named Sergeant Donny Donowitz, more fearfully referred to by the Nazis as “The Bear Jew”. Donowitz, is of course a member of the notorious Basterds, a group of Jewish American soldiers sent to Europe- behind enemy lines- to harass and terrorize the enemy in any way possible. Of course he, and the Basterds, are also not real. Many critics have dismissed the film Inglourious Basterds as “ahistorical” or “entirely too fantastic” to be considered a true piece of art that is worthy of any sort of praise. This thought stemming from the notion that history cannot be changed and attempts are wasteful.  However, Tarantino’s bold reinvention to the end of the Second World War not only is a tremendous work of art, but is even better than reality. So how does Tarantino get away with blatantly changing historical events?  His use of dark humor and a musical score reminiscent of a Western are his greatest tools for changing the past.  Also, the fact that he not the first to do so, also lends some credit to his decision.

            I would not consider Inglourious Basterds to be a comedy, but rather closer to a dark comedy at best due to its extremely violent and graphic nature, but most films made about World War II like Saving Private Ryan or The Great Escape are much more serious in nature. Saving Private Ryan is considered by many to be the most realistic portrayal of combat ever put on screen(excluding actual combat footage). Inglourious Basterds plays ball a little differently. Scenes of combat are much more theatrical-the flying blood, exploding wounds and scenery- create a disconnect from the actual events that took place and replace it with something out of a young boy’s vivid imagination. The film is also is full of eccentric characters like the American Lieutenant,  Aldo Raine, “The Apache”(Brad Pitt) or Nazi Colonel Hans Landa, “The Jew Hunter”(Christoph Waltz). Each of whom have extremely distinct-almost out of place or other-worldly- dialogue that could easily be found in a Coen brothers film. Dialog from each character deals with serious subjects of war, conspiracy, murder and even racism. Yet their character, delivery, and mannerisms cause the film to be more lighthearted than its heavy subject would normally be. An excellent example of this would be a conversation between Raine and Landa where Raine corrects and then explains to the Colonel how to properly use the word bingo.  Again, this creates this slight yet fantastic disconnect from reality and ventures into a grounded fantasy. 

Similarly, the musical score in this film is something that could have easily been found in any one of Clint Eastwood’s many Westerns. Borrowing from that genre, Tarantino is able to create more of a Sherriff-vs.-Villain approach to the situation. The music subtly informs the audience that the Basterds, or the heroes, will meet with the villain, Hitler, at the conclusion of the film in an extraordinary shootout. And of course, we know that in Westerns the hero almost always wins(3:10 to Yuma anyone?). So the music in a small changes the genre of the film to Western, thus lending to the possibility of fantasy and allowing Tarantino to make the changes necessary.

            Another point I wish to make it that Inglorious Basterds is not the first film to change history for its plot. CSA: Confederate States of America is a film that explores what the United States would be like today if the South had won the war and slavery still existed. This film examines the consequences of what a changed history would look like today. Inglorious Basterds is actually brave enough to show just how history would have changed without showing any of the consequences. Then it leaves the job of speculation up to the viewer and begs the question, “How would the world be different if Hitler had been killed on year earlier?” So many possibilities.

            Quentin Tarantino effectively and violently changes history in his film. His brilliant use of humor and music are able to create a superior reality. The story he wrote may be fantasy, but it is the ending that humanity wanted. It is the ending that the Jewish people deserved: a brutal and poetic act of vengeance carried out of by one of their own in order to destroy a ruthless dictator who had murdered millions. His real death was cowardly and anticlimactic, thus, killing him in a movie theatre through film was far more poetic and deserved. Tarantino should not be derided for his brave inventiveness. He should be thanked for it.