Nazis, Vedettas, and Aldo Raine

In spite of the two fronts in the movie ( Good guys vs. Nazis) almost every character brings a unique dimension to the film. Even though each character is on either side of the war, they all have various reasons for why they do, say and think.

Burn the Town

One such characters is Shosanna Dreyfus. After the murder of her entire family, by the hands of Nazis under command evil slicker Col Hanz Landa, she becomes the owner of a small cinema. Although her intention was not to become involved with the premier of a German film she takes advantage of this to execute revenge for her family and the Jewish people. In one of the most memorable scenes appropriately  titled "Revenge of the Giant Face", Shosanna has taped over a nationalistic film being shown in her cinema for German Night played by Fredrick Zoller, a German soldier turned actor who is romantically interested in Shosanna.

Giant Face

Zoller in film: Who has a message for Germany?
-Cut to Shosannas giant face on the screen
Shosanna : "I have a message for Germany.That you are all going to die! Marcel...burn the town. Marcel ignites the theater room filled with  high ranking German officers and the one and only,Hitler. The room up in flames, you seen Shosanna laughing, not on the screen, but on all the smoke. She then says a line that runs chills up my spine. " This is the face of Jewish revenge".
What I find funny about this is that at the same time there are American soldiers, English and German spies trying to do the exact same thing but Shosanna is the one who ends up killing everyone even without the knowledge of Col Landa, who, throughout the movie had figured pretty much everyone out.


Col Hanz Landa

wait for the cream

This charmingly evil man nicknamed the "Jew Hunter", is my favorite of all the characters. He is in charge of rounding up all the Jews left in France. His mannerism, small talk, and pauses in his speech are what really make this character for me. Apart from the superb acting by Christoph Waltz. Landas seemingly innocent conversations seems to harbor hidden knowledge of everyone  he speaks to. No one ever knows if he knows something about another character, but small clues suggest he does. The restaurant scene is the best example of this. After Shosannas family is murdered she makes a run for the woods near the house she lived in. Col Landa  stood being her as she ran trying to shoot her from the back but she was too far, meaning he never saw her face. This is key because when Shosanna agrees to use her cinema for German night,Landa, is the one who has to brief her in as standard procedure. She is seated at a table with Zoller and other officers when Landa walks in. He doesn't know her, but she knows exactly who he is. Now alone at the table, Landa offers her to try the strudel. when the waiter asks what they will drink. For him "A cup of expresso" for Shosanna "A glass of milk". Shosanna must have screamed inside. He either purposely ordered her milk to let her know he knows who she is, because she was housed by a dairy farmer or it was a terrifying coincidence. Again, we cant be to sure because Landa is just that cunning, manipulative, and sneaky that one just assumes that he must know or its just his intense personality . And just when you think things cannot get more tense, Landa takes out some cigaretts.
Landa: "I did have something else I wanted to ask you"
*soul crushing pause*
Landa:"But right now, for the life of me, I cant remember what it is. Oh well, must not of been important."
The intensity of that pause and Landa's expression bares resemblance to when he interrogated Mr Lapadite.


For some reason I could not upload the video, so here's the link
https://youtu.be/lydYhl1982Y


"Gorlami"
With all the charm of a  hillbilly from Tennessee, Aldo Raine brings some hilarity into  Inglorious Basterds in a way that does not take away the seriousness and grittiness of the film.One such moment is the famous "Italian Scene". Under cover as Bridget Von Hammersmark Italian friend, Aldo Raine, "Enzo Gorlomi", tries to introduce himself to Col.Landa at the premier of German night.
Bridget introduces three Italian friends. After introducing DonnyDonowitz(Antonio Margheriti)

Briget: A very talented cameraman, Enzo Gorlomi.
Landa: Gorlomi...? *in Italian* I'm i saying it correctly...?
Raine: * speaks Italian in a thick southern American accent*  UhhYes. Correct.

 Aldo butchers his last name over and over again

If they ever had a fighting chance of passing as Italian, Aldo ruins it. Its so bad and so insanely obvious it made me laugh and cringe at the same time. But even with the laughable moments in the movie it did not make the movie seem in light of whats actually happening. I still felt the emotions of the Resturant scene, the scene when shosannas family is murdered, even the seen when Bridget it strangled to death by Landa. Its seems with all the darkness in the film Tarantino sprinkled just the right amount of laughable moments at appropriate times.