Inglourious Basterds

Inglourious Basterds is a 2009 war film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino and released in August 2009 by The Weinstein Company and Universal Pictures. It was filmed in several locations, among them Germany and France, beginning in October 2008. The film, set in German-occupied France, tells the story of two plots to assassinate the Nazi political leadership, one planned by a young French Jewish cinema proprietress, the other by a team of American soldiers called the "Basterds".

Tarantino has said that despite it being a war film, Inglourious Basterds is a "spaghetti western but with World War II iconography". In addition to spaghetti westerns, the film also pays homage to the World War II "macaroni combat" sub-genre (itself heavily influenced by spaghetti-westerns).

Inglourious Basterds was accepted into the main selection at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival in competition for the prestigious Palme d'Or and had its world premiere there in May. It was the only U.S. film to win an award at Cannes that year, earning a Best Actor award for Christoph Waltz. It also has been nominated in four categories in the 67th Golden Globe Awards, including Best Picture – Drama and Best Director for Tarantino.

Inglourious Basterds begins in German-occupied France, where Shosanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent) witnesses the execution of her family at the hand of Nazi Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz). Shosanna narrowly escapes and flees to Paris, where she forges a new identity as the owner and operator of a cinema.

Elsewhere in Europe, Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) organizes a group of Jewish soldiers to engage in targeted acts of retribution. Known to their enemy as "The Basterds," Raine's squad joins German actress and undercover agent Bridget Von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger) on a mission to take down the leaders of The Third Reich. Fates converge under a cinema marquee, where Shosanna is poised to carry out a revenge plan of her own.

The title of the film was inspired by director Enzo Castellari's 1978 Dirty Dozen-like war film The Inglorious Bastards. Though Tarantino acknowledges that both the former and the latter were inspirations for the film, and there are noticeable similarities, he stresses that Basterds is an original work and not a remake of the 1978 film. To date, there has been little explanation of the title spelling. When asked, Tarantino would not explain the first u in Inglourious and said, "But the 'Basterds'? That's just the way you say it: Basterds." He stated in an interview that the misspelled title is "a Basquiat-esque touch." He further commented on the Late Show with David Letterman that "Inglourious Basterds" is the "Tarantino way of spelling it."

The movie received an eight to eleven minute standing ovation by the critics after its first screening at Cannes. In particular, Christoph Waltz was singled out for Cannes honors, receiving the Best Leading Actor award at the end of the festival. Movie critic Devin Faraci of Chud.com stated: "The cry has been raised long before this review, but let me continue it: Christoph Waltz needs not an Oscar nomination but rather an actual Oscar in his hands.... he must have gold". The film received four Golden Globe nominations including Best Motion Picture (Drama), Best Performance By An Actor In A Supporting Role In A Motion Picture for Christoph Waltz, Best Director (Motion Picture) for Quentin Tarantino, and Best Screenplay (Motion Picture) for Quentin Tarantino. The film also received three Screen Actors Guild Award nominations including Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, Outstanding Male Actor in a Supporting Role for Christoph Waltz, and Outstanding Female Actor in a Supporting Role for Diane Kruger.

Reference:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0361748/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inglourious_Basterds
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/inglourious_basterds/