I’m so goddamn pleased with myself for coming up with this set of observations that I had to share them with the world (lucky world). Admittedly, at least one person thought of this before me, and his name rhymes with ‘Bentin Barantino’. (I’d hazard a guess there’s thousands of others who noticed this before I did, but who’s counting?)

Also, spoilers abound for Inglourious Basterds, which I’m assuming you’ve seen if you’re reading this. Off we go…

In the lead-up to the story’s climax, a number of Nazis are in a high-class movie theater watching a film dramatizing Nazi sniper Fredrick Zoller’s one-man battle against American troops. The Germans are pretty stoked about the (in-movie) film, while the audience (in real life) is presumably…less excited. Nobody likes seeing Nazis win except for Nazis, right?

Anyhoo, while the German elite are gobbling up this monochrome display of ultraviolence, the titular Basterds are infiltrating the theater – and a vengeful Shosanna Dreyfus prepares to burn the whole thing down.  

Events climax with Shoshanna and Zoller shooting each other in the projection booth while Shoshanna’s assistant Marcel starts the planned inferno…then two of the Basterds kick in the door to Hitler’s box seat (oh, yeah, Hitler’s in the audience, along with some other notable shitlickers) and turn his face into something resembling a lead-flavored pepperoni pizza.

This is objectively awesome. But also…aren’t we, as the audience, feeling the same visceral rush that the (in-film) German audience experiencing when they watched Zoller’s exploits? We all mentally condemned that, but five minutes later we’re on our feet cheering while the entire Nazi high command gets turned into a slushy red paste.

…the thing is, I can’t argue against the cinematic value of seeing Hitler eat a lead breakfast. At the end of the day, we’re all going to be cheering for Shosanna, Marcel and the Basterds…Because it’s so much fun, Jan! Get it!

(…but we shouldn’t forget the commentary.)

While we’re on the topic of Tarantino movies, here’s something I noticed during my last viewing of Django Unchained. The observation in question occurred during the scene wherein Django dispatches two of the Brittle Brothers. The first Brittle that he disposes of – John – has an interesting outfit (although it’s not quite as eye-catching as Django’s blue duds). John’s clothes are patched up, but not with fabric; rather, what appear to be pages of the Bible are sewn onto his shirt, with one directly over his heart. Django blasts right through that bullshit with a Taxi Driver-style sleeve gun before putting down the second Brittle on the scene with the right kind of prejudice. My thinking, which may or may not be completely idiotic and off-base, is that the pages are a representation of the way religion can be misused as an excuse – or justification – for truly repugnant behavior, even if said excuse is only paper-thin.