'The Bicycle Thief'/'Bicycle Thieves' - Reality of a crippled society

Vittorio DeSica was one of the pioneers of neorealist cinema in a post war ridden Italy. At a time when the country was crippled by the devastation of war, a crumbling economy, lack of jobs, an impoverished society, DeSica held out a mirror to the troubles of the common man. 'The Bicycle Thief' was a masterpiece from its very conceptualization. A movie that went on to win an honorary Oscar at a time when the foreign film category did not exist and was hailed by critics as the greatest film ever made at the time, this work of art needs no introduction to world cinema buffs. The tale of a father and son in search of a stolen bicycle which is essential to the livelihood of their family takes the most simple, direct approach to filmmaking, leaving the strongest impact at its closure.

Ricci (Lamberto Maggiorani) is a man like many in search of a job in post war Rome. He bags one as a poster hanger, the only requirement being that he has a bicycle. In fact he does not, as he has pawned his to provide food at his family table. But a No means loss of a livelihood and waiting for another job may take a year. There are crowds of people willing to take his position. His wife Maria, played spiritedly by Lianella Carell, pawns her dowry bed sheets to reclaim their bicycle. Their hopes rekindled, a poor but loving family smile at the prospect of good times. In the morning Ricci heads out with his young son Bruno ( Enzo Staiola in a laudable performance), whom he drops off at his workplace in a gas station and then starts with his new job. Alas, on this very first day, in front of his hapless eyes, his cycle gets stolen, the thief vanishing into the crowd. What follows is Ricci's desperate attempt to find that stolen bicycle over the course of an entire day with Bruno in tow. Realization slowly hits him that he may never recover that bicycle and fall back into the vicious cycle of poverty once more.

Simple and direct in its story and treatment, 'The Bicycle Thief' is one of the most powerful takes on the degeneration of moral values in the face of sheer desperation to survive. At one point during their futile search, Ricci almost gives up, telling Bruno that they might as well eat and forget about their state. In a restaurant scene, one of the many poignant in the movie, a father filled with false bravado makes merry with his son, forgetting for a few moments the reality of their situation, only to have his son eyeing the rich children eating plates full of spaghetti. Realization reinstates the importance of that stolen cycle in their lives. 'If we had that cycle, we could eat', he words to his son. Later, he does find and confront the thief in an electrifying sequence where a crowd gathers, defending the thief and cornering Ricci. Even after getting the police, Ricci is unable to retrieve the cycle from him.

Desperation finally cuts through Ricci who rides the cycle of morality to grab what does not belong to him. In doing so, his action becomes the image of a society driven to desperate measures in order to survive. It's a vicious cycle and if circumstances don't change, the cycle won't break. 'The Bicycle Thief' employs non actors in the major roles. A truthfulness to the trying times the characters endure shine through these common people portraying roles not much different from their natural circumstances. In Ricci, we have the desperate man trying to provide for his family and be the father his son can look up to. Bruno is the face of innocence waking up to the harsh reality of life. When the father crumples of shame and despair, it is the son who holds Ricci's hands in an ironic role reversal.

DeSica who turned to neorealist cinema with 'The children are watching us' and later won the world over with 'Shoeshine' (also a recipient of an honorary Oscar), made this masterpiece, of a book by Luigi Bartolini which he reworked with his writer/collaborator Cesare Zavattini, who had originally brought the book to him. The effectiveness of the tale lies in it being devoid of sentimentality. It narrates a sad tale of working class Italy and keeps it to the point and in consequence highly effective. A highlight of the movie is its music. The melancholic strain that follows the father-son duo's travails is the emotional string that makes the proceedings heartbreaking.

The title of the movie has been a subject of controversy. Literally translated, it is 'Bicycle Thieves' which puts the film's tale into perspective. The deterioration of the moral fabric of a society in its desperate pursuit of survival, is captured impeccably in its title. However, released in the United States, it became the more simplistic 'The Bicycle Thief', telling of a stolen cycle and the efforts for its retrieval. The Criterion collection, thankfully, released the DVD with the literal title reinstated.

Shot in Rome, I could not help compare the city with the images captured in a Hollywood movie of those times, 'Roman Holiday'. We see not a shot of the tourist attractions and the picture perfect locations here. This is the reality of the heart of a city driven to desperate measures for survival. Men walking with the weight of the world on them. And from that sea emerges one man, with his tale, only to be swallowed once more by the sea of weary faces at the end. On watching this movie, it is said Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray found his calling for making neorealist cinema, employing non actors in real world tales of the common man. Indeed, Iranian cinema and many others to this day create great cinema out of realism. Truth, after all, does resonate. As does the enduring power of a movie made over half a century ago.

Originally released in 1948
In Italian with English Subtitles
Available on DVD
My Rating: 5/5

Roman Holiday - A Royal Adventure

There is something to be said about a romantic comedy that endures. William Wyler's 'Roman Holiday' is that rare movie that in its lightheartedness and fun sweeps us into an experience truly unforgettable and at the end, quietly melancholy. Launching the big screen career of Hollywood's sweetheart Audrey Hepburn, this movie gave us romance at its most endearing, comedy at its most hilarious and finally a waif like girl who would burn up the entire screen each time she twinkled into the camera.

The story is old as the hills. In a case of cinderella reversed, we have Princess Ann from an unnamed  country, on a goodwill tour across the European states. Her last stop is Rome and we sense a discontentment even as she meets with dignitaries and addresses them with regality and charm. A desire to escape the daily routine takes over her sedated self at night, after a bout of hysterics and she tumbles into the streets of Rome. An encounter with a charming gentleman Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck) leads to him taking her to his shoebox size apartment, unable to leave her on the streets in her drug induced state.

Turns out that Mr. Bradley is a reporter who now has a scoop on his hands. On discovering that the troublesome, seemingly inebriated girl is the princess, who is stated to have been indisposed of a sudden illness to hide her disappearance from the palace, he along with his partner in crime, photographer Irving (Eddie Albert), seize the moment to keep the runaway princess around them long enough to build a story around her adventures in Rome. And so we have Ann posing as Anya Smith getting a haircut where her locks are sheared into Hepburn's now signature pixie cut, riding a motorcycle to hilarious consequences, gorging on a gelato at the heart of Rome and creating some marvelous moments of fun with the two opportunists in tow. And then the day comes to an end with the princess finding love.

This is a movie with some great moments of physical comedy that have been emulated through the decades in cinema across the globe. The fun between Joe and Irving over revealing the identity of the princess is a highpoint as is the sequence at a dance where a sidesplitting furor occurs culminating in the memorable snapshot of Anya bringing down a guitar over a man's head. But no sequence of the fun on this holiday is probably as famous, indeed imitated over the years, as the 'mouth of truth' sequence where     if one is telling an untruth with their hand in the mouth of a stone image, it gets bitten off. Amidst all the fun, the tender romance that develops between the lead is aired with sadness. After all, can the princess ever fall in love and live happily ever after with the commoner?

Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn have crackling chemistry. Gregory Peck was a star at the time. But for Audrey Hepburn, this movie, though not her debut, was her first starring role. To hold her own against a seasoned performer and actually at times be more effective, was no small achievement. That she took home the Oscar that year isn't surprising. Watch her slight smile with that teardrop hanging like a pearl from her eye in her final sequence. Amazing! Gregory Peck, that handsome gentleman, was extremely at ease in his first comic outing. To give him fine company was the third corner of this fun trio, Eddie Albert. His physical comedy with Peck had perfect timing. The performance of all the actors stand out, especially in the final sequence. The director takes his time with the scene, lingering over the expressions, each nuance is highlighted and the actors deliver to the moment.

The movie was shot wholly on location, thereby giving it that authentic air, studio shot movies can never quite duplicate. At its inception, the project was to star Cary Grant and Elizabeth Taylor and be directed by Frank Capra. However, since the story was by Dalton Trumbo, at the time blacklisted for his political activities, Capra had reservations going ahead with the project and William Wyler was brought into the picture. At his insistence, the movie was shot in Italy and to keep the budget in check, made in black and white. Dalton Trumbo was not credited for his work in the movie and Ian McLellan Hunter, who had helped on the screenplay, got the credit for which he won the Oscar as well. However, Trumbo did receive a posthumous Oscar for his work and his name has now been restored on the credits in the DVD of the film. With Wyler's inclusion came the bright young actress Audrey Hepburn, who had screen tested for him. Cary Grant had reservations about working with an actress as young as Hepburn and in stepped Gregory Peck who was by the time, ready to do a romantic comedy having worked only in serious roles before.

Roman Holiday finds its bearing in being a tale told lightly of unconsummated love. Some of the greatest love stories are of a love which do not find a happy ending. The ones that leave us wistful for what might have been. In Princess Ann's tears shining through her smile and Joe Bradley's teary eyed melancholy look, we sigh for a love that this and a life that won't allow them to be together. But out of this love, they find honor. The honor to do what is right, to fulfill their duties. To become better human beings. Love often does do that to people.

Originally released in 1953

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara - You only Live once

Ten years ago Hindi cinema came alive with a film on friendship, its delicate yet enduring bond and growing in life and love. The movie spoke to the youth, gathered a cult following and is now enshrined in the gallery of trendsetting movies from India. That movie was 'Dil Chahta Hai'.  Its director a young debutant Farhan Akhtar. Fast forward to the present day and we have another young filmmaker Zoya Akhtar who presents to us 'Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara'. A film I can call a worthy successor to 'Dil Chahta Hai'. She happens to be the former mentioned filmmaker's sister. It all runs in the family.

We have a tale of male bonding where one friend is engaged and decides to arrange a road trip through Spain with his two best childhood buddies as an extended bachelor party. Kabir (Abhay Deol) wants to get his friends Imran (Frahan Akhtar) and Arjun (Hrithik Roshan) to give in to their adventurous sides and partake of sports which will test their fears and therefore set them free. So, we have three friends in picturesque Spain giving in to their wild side, playing pranks on random people, reminiscing about their college days and slowly letting us into their inner worlds. We witness the tension between Imran and Arjun and understand the reason for it, we see Arjun's love for money and understand the motivation behind it, we are privy to Imran's world where under the front of being the prankster of the group he is hiding secrets and fighting demons and finally we see the truth behind a facade Kabir has put on.

Deep sea diving, Sky diving and a run with the bulls are the activities of choice and with each, the characters are liberated of their fears, their turmoils and the philosophy of 'learning to live each moment like your last' stands tall. This is our time to live and what good is it if we spend it inside a box. Laila, Katrina Kaif in one of her more natural roles, is the voice of this philosophy. A deep sea diver, she sets Arjun free of his bondage and brings love into his life. The scene where she seizes the moment to let him know of her feelings, stands out for its sheer genuinity. In the middle of their adventures with life, Kabir's fiance Natasha (Kalki Koechlin) lands up to keep an eye on her husband to be, in case things heat up on this extended road trip.

Certain sequences leave an impact but none more so than the sequence between Imran and his father. In its subtlety, this scene lends credibility to the lessons the movie sets out to impart. Pain is essential to living life fully. With each experience we open ourselves to it. And it is both the teacher as well as the healer. The sky diving sequence is a metaphor for the need to let go, to truly feel life. It is beautifully shot and stands out in capturing the essence of friendship so uniquely.

The actors all rise to the occasion and deliver. There are no false notes here. The characters are easily relatable. Hrithik Roshan, a star in India, shows the sensitivity to handle the growth of his character graph. Abhay Deol as always, is dependable as is Kalki in her slightly neurotic, shrewish character. The revelation is Farhan Akhtar. Even in his tomfoolery we sense a sadness, a weight in his laughter. The sequence where he confronts his father and the tears that rise is applause worthy. Naseerudin Shah in his lone sequence stands out. A worthy note to the poetry penned by Javed Akhtar that takes the journey forward.

Though it takes the movie a while to rise to the occasion, with an initial half hour or so where the tomfoolery might just start to get on nerves, when it gets its groove, it sweeps us along with it. There are sequences celebrating friendship and fun which overstay their welcome, an example being the tomatina festival in Bunol as also the childish pranks of scaring people. But in its depiction of each adventure sport and the life lessons associated as well as the growth in the character graphs of its leads, this movie gets it right. Zoya Akhtar shows tremendous talent in understanding the finer nuances of telling a story. There is a lot implied here, drums are not beaten. Thankfully, unlike a lot of makers of commercial Indian cinema, she does not dumb down her audience. A special mention to how she ends the movie. Most movies get that moment wrong. She nails the final sequence, draws the curtains at the accurate instant.

We usually live by the book. It is the norm and before we know, the rules have bent us and our lives have flashed by. We do not get the opportunity to turn back time, to set our lives free and soar. In that case, it makes sense to truly feel each day, each moment and breathe in life and the richness it has to offer. Few find courage to flow against the tide, but that is the only way to freedom. When you are running from the bulls, you feel death in every pore and in the face of that final eventuality, you may truly be free to dream, to feel, to live.

Released in 2011
In Hindi

Midnight in Paris - A Tale of Magic Realism

"Oh to be transported to that world you yearn for, the times when the creative giants mingled at parties, literary salons and welcome you, caught in a magical time warp, into their midst. You gape with awe at rubbing shoulders with the masters and they are blissfully unaware of who they are to become in the eyes of a future generation" - that in a nutshell is Woody Allen's delightful new movie. We know Allen best from the times of his love affair with New York. Barely has any filmmaker captured the pulse of that enigmatic city and its inhabitants like Allen. And yet now he churns out movies set in European locales. Some are hits, a lot misses. 'Matchpoint' and 'Vicky christina Barcelona' had shades of brilliance. With 'Midnight in Paris', he gets his groove back.

Gil (Owen Wilson) is on vacation in Paris with his uptight fiancee Inez (Rachel McAdams) and her rich right wing pompous parents. He is a successful screenwriter in Hollywood who is discontent with the hack writing  he produces and longs to leave it all to wander the streets of Paris, which is filled with the footprints of literary geniuses of a bygone era, and complete work on his novel, become an actual writer. Inez, on the other hand, loves her riches and wishes to settle in upscale American suburbia. While Inez lives the night life of Paris with friends, Gil would rather catch some air wandering those historic cobblestone lined streets and at the stroke of midnight encounters magic. A vintage automobile draws up and he is transported into the Paris of the 1920s rubbing shoulders with literary giants like Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald as also artists Picasso, Salvodor Dali.

Magic and reality blend as night after night Gil makes the journey into his favorite period of history and has his manuscript read by the great Stein for some valuable inputs. Glimpses into Scott and Zelda's tumultuous relationship and Hemingway's masculinity, love of adventure and all the famous salon meetings at Stein's residence of the 20s ring true. He meets the luminous Adriana (Marion Cotillard), who is Picasso's lover and muse and finds himself attracted to the rich beauty and deep mind. A man considering himself a misfit in todays times with a desire to have lived in that golden era of American literature slowly gains insight into love, desires and finally finds himself in Paris. A breezy watch, it is heartwarming how 'Midnight in Paris' leaves us with that very important life lesson - whatever we seek for, we should keep at the present else no era will be good enough. 

Peppered liberally with a host of great performances in cameos like Kathy Bates as Stein, Adrien Brody as Dali among others, the stand out performance comes from Owen Wilson who embodies the character Woody Allen played role after role, to perfection. It is safe to say he plays the best Woody Allen after the man himself. The sincerity and enthusiasm shines through in his hero worship for these greats who knew not at that time the greatness writ in their destinies. He is a revelation. Rachel McAdams is efficient as the shrewish, spoilt fiancee. One wonders what brought these two in such a mismatch of a relationship.  Maybe their shared love of Indian pita bread. Marion Cotillard is bewitching and just gazing into those enormously expressive eyes, one can believe her to have inspired great artists.

For lovers of literature especially American as well as art of the early twentieth century, and those responding to the magic of Paris, this is an exceptional watch. For those not familiar, this is an equally enchanting ride. Paris looks picture postcard. There is a brief period when time moves its hands back into late nineteenth century 'Belle Epoque' Paris which is Adriana's idyllic era. There is a certain nostalgia associated with bygone eras. For every era, there is one before it to yearn for. But time, after all, moves forward for a reason. 

Released in 2011

Playing in Theatres

The Town - Boston's crime neighborhood come alive

A movie about a bank robber who wants to walk away from his life of crime, having found love and an alternate meaning to life. We have seen it all before. However Ben Affleck's deftly directed and acted Boston crime drama 'The Town' springs a pleasant surprise in its execution for the majority of its running time. This is a movie we can predict each twist a mile away, yet it manages to hold our attention and engage us in its characters' graphs. That is no mean feat.

Doug MacRay (Ben Affleck) heads a four member gang of bank robbers living in Charlestown, introduced to us at the beginning of the movie, as the neighborhood of Boston that produces more bank robbers than any other part of the country. Indeed crime is more a family occupation in this Irish neighborhood. Doug's father is serving hard time for not snitching on his friends in a crime gone wrong. At the onset, the movie gets down to business with a gritty bank robbery. Hidden behind skeletor masks, they loot the Cambridge bank and then take the bank manager Claire (Rebecca Hall) as hostage. She is let go unharmed, but the gang soon finds out that she lives right in their neighborhood and there is a chance she could point them to the FBI. Jem (Jeremy Renner), the psycho trigger happy member that every movie gang seems to have, wants to "remove her from the equation". Doug, the level headed leader, however takes matters into his own hands. He befriends her, trying to find out how much she knows. In the process, love blossoms. 

The movie takes its time to delve into the Doug's psyche. Here is where Ben Affleck shines as a director. There is in particular a scene, where he talks of his childhood, when his mother walked out on their family. Observe the leisureliness in the dialogue delivery, the correct pauses and the nuances so telling of the effect that incident probably had in shaping his persona. A recovering alcoholic worn down by the world he inhabits, Claire comes as the change he wants to make in his life. Hoping to escape to Florida with her, he reluctantly takes on one last job. And of course, things start to go wrong.

Where the story lacks in novelty, it makes up in its interesting characters and the great scenes they inhabit. There is Jem who is like a brother to Doug, but is the wild boy who needs taming. There is a scene where he walks in on Doug and Claire at a cafe. He is furious to find Doug warming up to the girl who could be a danger to them all. The way he plays the scene, striking up a conversation with Claire, all the while with Doug in tension that she might identify Jem from the fighting Irish tattoo on his neck that she had seen at the robbery, is marvelous. We also encounter Jem's dopehead sister Krista (Blake Lively) who is Doug's former girlfriend and a mother to a little girl. She is a mirror to the girls growing up in this neighborhood of crime. How she is played by FBI agent Frawley (Jon Hamm), who knows the robbers but is unable to collect sufficient evidence for a conviction, are highlight sequences.

Ben Affleck who previously directed the solid gritty Boston kidnapping drama 'Gone Baby Gone', proves that as a director he is here to stay. The Boston underbelly plays his muse and in this minefield of crime, he has an eye for the human drama behind it. He is at his best not when filming the heists, which are all predictable yet exciting, but when he explores the people involved. He lingers on those little scenes telling us a lot more of the characters than written in the screenplay. A lesser director would have swiftly moved along to the next plot point. As an actor, he is a revelation as well. The lean, hard physique with a bang on Bostonian accent and a weary face, Affleck lives this role. In fact this movie is strung by great performances in great sequences with crisp dialogues. Chris Cooper playing Doug's imprisoned father shines in his lone scene as does Pete Postlethwaite in his role as the menacing Irish mob boss who runs a flower shop as cover. Watch him blackmail Doug into one last job, all the while snipping at the stems of roses. Chilling.

Based on Chuck Hogan's novel 'Prince of Thieves', 'The Town' could easily have ended up as another routine cops and robber thriller and in parts it is just that. But what elevates it, is why we want to watch this movie and tell the numerous makers of the genre, this is how it could also be done and maybe it will just work better. Ben Affleck is one director to watch out for. I look forward to seeing more of his work, this side or the other. Watch the movie, you will get it.

Originally released in 2010

Available on DVD

Eat Drink Man Woman - Marriage of Life's Elixirs

Most of us know and respect Ang Lee's works. His deep understanding of the fragilities of the human heart have been ably showcased in movies such as 'Brokeback Mountain', 'Lust, caution'. Delving into his filmography I chanced upon one of his earliest works from his Taiwanese roots which was later adapted by Hollywood as 'Tortilla Soup'. The movie - 'Eat Drink Man Woman'. And it was a satisfying discovery indeed. A tale of a father and his three grown daughters living together in Taipei, it looks at the paternal bond between a strict, emotionally distant father and the daughters who are at the wings of taking their owns flights into love, life and liberty.

Chef Chu (Sihung Lung) is the best. His culinary delights have feasted the very important personalities of Taiwan. However, somewhere along the way he has lost his sense of taste. Ironical for a head chef. He cooks out of habit and relies on his longtime associate Wen to tell the quality of his lovingly prepared masterpieces. Indeed food plays an exquisitely important part in the proceedings and to see them being crafted from the ground up is a delight to our gastronomical senses. Where Chu so successfully brings balance in his profession, he flounders to maintain his relationship with the girls.

The eldest daughter Jia-Jen (Kuei-Mei Yang) is an emotionally repressed chemistry teacher who was thwarted in love nine years ago and has yet to recover. Seen as an old maid by her family, her suppressed desires flutter back to life when she meets the new volleyball coach. The middle sister Jia-Chien (Chien-Lien Wu) is possibly the most successful, working as an airline executive in the process of a promotion to their Amsterdam office. Focussed and work oriented, she comes across as the hardest of the sisters till the layers peel to reveal a sensitive, mature personality. She is also an excellent cook whose dreams of following on her father's heels had been shattered by him. Girls don't make chefs, so she was sent to get an education that mattered.

The youngest Jia-Ning (Yu-Wen Wang) studies and works at a fast food chain. Her track involves finding love at the cost of her friend's struggling romance and some lies. Alongside runs the track of a family friend, a divorcee with a little girl for whom Chef Chu prepares elaborate lunches to take to her school. There is also the mother of the family friend, a widowed garrulous, borderline rude  woman who has her sights set on the chef. Holding an observant hand with a smattering of comedy, Ang Lee makes us understand the characters. The father who belongs to an old world, is unable to communicate with his offsprings who are no longer his little girls. He prepares elaborate Sunday dinners for his daughters which they must not miss and the process is painful, as a dinner table laden with his lavish cooking worthy of a party, sees the girls pushing around the food unenthusiastically in their plates over stilted conversation. The easy camaraderie and joy of gathering at the table is missing. Hence, maybe his delight in feeding the little school girl and her friends their daily lunch.

The sisters all caught in their own webs, play out equally well. The elder daughter's cautious approach towards opening her heart is especially interesting and rings true. Though the conclusion seemed too comic, for the depths the characterization had provided. The youngest daughter's ironical work place is a sign of the winds changing. From the times of crafting elaborate meals from scratch, where food and its preparation was an art, to the world of fast food. We see both worlds. Finally it is the middle sister's sensitivity that stands out.

The performances all work, the characters are all interesting because they could be any ordinary person we bump into in our worlds. Every life carries a story and when a film maker makes the effort to carve a story around ordinary lives, that is hardly dramatic or climactic, he achieves a 'slice of life' cinema. Ang Lee went on to make a mark in Hollywood and  has made some big movies. This was a very promising beginning from a man who is still growing from strength to strength. As a character says "'Eat Drink Man Woman' which is Food and Sex - Basic Human Desires, cannot avoid them". A marriage of the two, that was dealt with utmost sensitivity and a little humor in this small movie with a big heart.

Available on DVD
Originally Released in 1994
In Mandarin with English Subtitles
Best Foreign Language Film Nominee at the Academy Awards 1995

Inglourious Basterds - A Tarantino Delight

Quentin Tarantino has to be the most daring filmmaker of significance today. Crafting a career out of bold works such as 'Reservoir Dogs', 'Pulp Fiction', the dual volumed 'Kill Bill', he has mastered every aspect of filmmaking and storytelling through the ages and genres and then devilishly twisted them all, to blaze the film scene with an originality hitherto unseen. We know him as an autodidact whose position as a video store clerk served a fertile learning ground. 'Inglourious Basterds' is a glorious continuation of Tarantino's mad mix of genres and styles of film making. Let's face it, who else would have dared a setting as sombre and disturbing as the Nazi infested World War II and then made a spaghetti western of it, throwing historical events for a toss and concluding the most significant chapter of 20th century history as only Tarantino can. History has been writ all over.

The movie plays out in five acts in occupied France between 1941 and 1944. It opens in French country when a dairy farmer is greeted by german troops led by Col. Hans Landa, played to amazing accuracy in a career defining performance by Christoph Waltz. The scene is of a typical western complete with Ennio Morricone's soundtrack, which plays out through a good part of the movie. What follows is one of the most thrilling interrogations that movies have seen. The farmer is suspected of harboring Jews in his dwelling. Needless to say, the Jews are discovered and slaughtered with a lone escapee, Shosanna (French actress Melanie Laurent ). The scene moves to a band of American Jews formed for the purpose of massacring the Nazis, called the 'Inglourious Basterds', the reason for the misspelling never clear. Led by Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt in superb form) they scalp the nazis, pulp them with a baseball bat and what not.

Everything comes together when a nazi movie is to be premiered in a local Paris cinema owned by Shosanna, who has managed to change her identity, the details are not important. On one hand the basterds have a plan to annihilate the nazis attending the premiere and then Shosanna has revenge up her sleeves. And thus Tarantino changes the course of WWII. The plot is intelligent of course. But what is typical of a Trantino film, 'Inglourious Basterds' being no exception, is the playing out of the individual scenes. Each one is lovingly fleshed out, with detailed, multi layered, sinuous dialogues, delivered and played out by talents chewing on their parts, knowing the relevance of each line rendered, every movement made, into making a scene worthy of individual glory.

Three sequences stay in mind. The opening interrogation being the first. There is then an elongated sequence in a basement tavern where a plan is to be laid out only to result in bloodbath. It is brilliantly played out with Diane Kruger portraying a German actress, who has now changed sides to help the basterds. And then there is a Kill Bill like sequence with Shosanna getting ready for her big revenge. Filmed in typical noir, we have the allusive lady in red with the red lips and an automatic in her purse to the strains of David Bowe's 'Putting out the fire'. Memorable! A good movie is when the entire story works with good performances, technical soundness. However, it is when you can take back individual sequences and carry them with equal verve, great cinema is made.

The performances all carry weight. Brad Pitt as the southern accented Nazi hating leader is brilliant and gets the comedy in his dialogues and delivers them with sly fun. German born Diane Kruger shows a side of her which is a departure from her big hollywood eye candy roles. Laurent's lead performance of Shosanna comes out trumps especially in the final sequence showing off the maniacal revenge hungry side of a bottled up, wary heroine, on film. In a movie where every performance big or small is nailed accurately, only peans of the highest order can be sung for Austrian born Waltz's tour de force as Col. Landa aka 'The Jew Hunter'. The impeccably polite, gracious nazi with hidden steel and cunning is a charm and evil act unmatched and is worthy of every award garnered, starting with the Cannes and ending at the Oscars. In my view asides from Uma Thurman's spirited bride act in Kill Bill, this is the best written part in a Quentin Tarantino film, which is saying a lot because I am picking from a plethora of memorable characters.

Inglourious Basterds is not another world war movie. Nor is it just a western revenge drama. Tarantino doesn't believe in formulaic cinema. As I had started out with, his is always a delightful, mad mix of genres, styles that transcend the staid diet of movies we are fed on. It tears the moral fibre leading to vastly unpredictable, ingenious characterizations. Even at its lengthy two and a half hour runtime, we crave for  more delicious scenes to stretch out. This is a movie best seen a second time. The first time, you want to do away with the plot and then revisit it, to linger over each scene, enjoy the effects of razor sharp wordplay, meticulously crafted characters. And then sit back and take in the fact that this is a piece of the best, cinema will have to offer in today's time.

Originally released in 2009
Available on DVD

In English, French, German with subtitles
Oscar award winner for Best Supporting actor (Christoph Waltz)
My Rating: 5/5