tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8307678312217390020.post4951840745956072721..comments2022-11-05T06:07:26.338-07:00Comments on Last Seat on the Right: "Inglourious Basterds" (2009, Tarantino)Michał Oleszczykhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11521760881710382872noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8307678312217390020.post-52251661303182712822009-09-22T03:40:33.220-07:002009-09-22T03:40:33.220-07:00Paweł, here's an interesting take on it:
http...Paweł, here's an interesting take on it:<br /><br />http://www.jonathanrosenbaum.com/?p=16514Michał Oleszczykhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11521760881710382872noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8307678312217390020.post-85008602845908073462009-09-17T13:09:16.843-07:002009-09-17T13:09:16.843-07:00I just saw the flick and promptly run to read your...I just saw the flick and promptly run to read your entry. Two remarks stand out: “A lot more than words gets misspelled “ - right on. I wish you riffed more on that. (A critic has a license to be ruthless!) <br /><br />Also the comparison between Landa’s manipulativeness and coldness and the film itself. If such connection was indeed executed all the way we would be talking major achievement. Yet, somehow I don’t feel it is.Pawel Kuczynskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05560375946783948879noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8307678312217390020.post-69048794155861205762009-09-12T09:11:04.393-07:002009-09-12T09:11:04.393-07:00There's a difference between Shosanna and the ...There's a difference between Shosanna and the crowd burning up in the theater: Shosanna dies as an active agent in a duel of sorts, and is not a part of the whirling, squealing crowd trapped down below and looked down upon by the camera, with no attempts at individualization whatsoever (apart from showing the key Nazi figures, of course).<br /><br />I agree that there's some ambiguity to the finale, but I'm afraid very few viewers would make the connection between Hitler's cackling and their own. I think for most of the audience Hitler's reaction shots during the screening of THE NATION'S PRIDE serve as yet another evidence of his evil nature, and thus count as yet another reason to blow up the whole place. I think that, had Tarantino really been after moral ambiguity, he should have made us *truly* uncomfortable by allowing us to sympathize with at least one member of the audience, and then showing us him or her dying in flames. Maybe that would have made us stop mid-cheer, so to speak.Michał Oleszczykhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11521760881710382872noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8307678312217390020.post-34305687400030080012009-09-12T08:54:01.518-07:002009-09-12T08:54:01.518-07:00Tarantino removes the only characters we cared abo...Tarantino removes the only characters we cared about from the theater? Huh? The only character in the film who's remotely sympathetic, who really got to me, is Shosanna. Yeah, Landa and Aldo are interesting characters, but I don't think anyone watching the film "cares" for them.<br /><br />I also think there's a level of criticism and ambiguity to the theater scene that prevents it from being "morally unacceptable" -- QT is calling attention to our impulse to cheer, making us question our responses to such onscreen violence, especially since not too long before that scene he had shown Hitler himself cackling maniacally while watching, yes, onscreen violence.Ed Howardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18014222247676090467noreply@blogger.com