What filmmaking techniques does Inglourious Basterds use?

CineCode breaks down 7 techniques in Inglourious Basterds (2009): Counterfactual Narrative, Unbroken Dialogue Scene, Triangulated Moral Ambiguity, Violence as Cathartic Argument, Genre Collage, Anachronistic Soundtrack and Pop Culture Monologue.

Who directed Inglourious Basterds?

Quentin Tarantino directed Inglourious Basterds, released in 2009. CineCode also covers Reservoir Dogs (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994), Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003), Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), Death Proof (2007).

What films are similar to Inglourious Basterds?

Films that share techniques with Inglourious Basterds include Pulp Fiction (1994), Django Unchained (2012), Snatch (2000), Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003).

War · Drama · Thriller

Inglourious Basterds

Quentin Tarantino, 2009

In German-occupied France, a Jewish cinema owner and a squad of American Jewish soldiers separately plot to assassinate the Nazi high command at a film premiere. This is Tarantino's boldest film in form. It rewrites history through cinema and makes the movie screen itself the weapon of revenge.

5 Narrative 1 Editing 1 Sound

At a glance

Inglourious Basterds is a 2009 war, drama and thriller film directed by Quentin Tarantino. This breakdown covers 7 techniques (5 narrative, 1 editing and 1 sound), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Pulp Fiction uses several of the same techniques.

Narrative

Counterfactual Narrative

Building the story on a what-if, such as a version of history or of a life that went differently. Seeing the alternative shows you why the real version matters.

How this film uses it

Tarantino rewrites the end of World War II and kills Hitler and the Nazi high command in a Paris cinema. This is a counterfactual, a version of history that never happened, and he never presents it as fantasy. It hits you with the full force of a movie built for emotional release. You end up sharing in the pleasure of a history that did not happen.

Where to see it

The cinema fire. Shosanna's revenge burns through the screen, and the film playing inside the film becomes the tool of the assassination.

Editing

Unbroken Dialogue Scene

Letting a conversation run for a long time with very few cuts. The tension builds from the actors sharing the space and from what is said, almost said and left unsaid.

How this film uses it

The farmhouse opening and the tavern standoff each run for a long, nearly unbearable time. Tarantino uses the length as pressure. The longer the conversation goes, the greater the risk that someone is exposed, and the more you feel the violence being held back.

Where to see it

The opening interrogation. Hans Landa and the French farmer talk for 20 minutes and it ends in a massacre. Every second builds toward an outcome you dread.

Narrative

Triangulated Moral Ambiguity

Spreading good and bad qualities across 3 or more characters, where most stories use 2 sides. Nobody is purely the hero or the villain, so you can't easily pick who to root for.

How this film uses it

Landa is charming, brilliant and monstrous. Shosanna's revenge is righteous and wipes out everything. The Basterds are heroic and savage. Tarantino sets the 3 against each other so you can't separate the moral pleasure of revenge from the horror of atrocity. That means you can't read the film as simply righteous.

Where to see it

Landa's deal at the premiere. After arresting Aldo Raine and Utivich, a war criminal bargains for his own immunity in exchange for letting the attack go ahead. The scene lays out exactly where each side stands morally.

Narrative

Violence as Cathartic Argument

Building up tension and then releasing it in explicit violence that carries the film's moral or political point. The violence makes you feel what historical distance has turned abstract.

How this film uses it

The cinema fire and the Basterds' machine-gun attack from Hitler's opera box are designed as catharsis, a big emotional release. The audience's pleasure in it is the film's subject. 2 hours of Nazi arrogance, Shosanna's buried grief and Jewish victimhood all get reversed in 1 sequence of ecstatic destruction.

Where to see it

Shosanna's face on the cinema screen, laughing as the Nazis burn. The triumphant image of the Jewish cinema owner is projected over her own revenge.

Narrative

Genre Collage

Mixing several genres in 1 film, such as crime, romance, horror and absurd comedy. The clash between them keeps you from settling into a single way of watching.

How this film uses it

Tarantino moves between WWII ensemble film, spaghetti western, French New Wave character study and exploitation cinema with no transitions. The genres are stacked on top of each other, and each chapter borrows a different film tradition. The film ends up reflecting on how cinema tells stories about war.

Where to see it

The chapter-title cards and the Ennio Morricone music Tarantino borrowed for the soundtrack. The style of a spaghetti western gets applied to Occupied France, and the film announces the genre clash openly.

Sound

Anachronistic Soundtrack

Playing music from a different era, such as hip-hop, rock or pop, over a story set in the past. The clash comments on how those past events connect to the present.

How this film uses it

David Bowie's 'Cat People (Putting Out Fire)' plays as Shosanna gets ready for the cinema's final night. Tarantino sets 1980s pop against 1944 Paris to make a point: this is a film about how the modern imagination takes back historical violence. The song comes from the wrong era, and that's the point. You're watching the past through the eyes of the present.

Where to see it

Shosanna's preparation montage. Bowie's 'Cat People (Putting Out Fire)' plays over a World War II scene as if it were a 1980s revenge thriller.

Narrative

Pop Culture Monologue

Writing long speeches where characters talk in detail about films, music or other pop culture. How they analyze these small things shows you who they are.

How this film uses it

Hans Landa talks like a man giving a long performance, full of film-history knowledge and control over his listener. His speeches about detection, about milk and about cinema are always perfectly built. They show a man who understands that reality is a performance. Tarantino uses the monologue to make Landa the most terrifying character in the film through words alone.

Where to see it

Landa's opening interrogation monologue. It's the speech about 'the Jew hunter'. Its self-awareness and elegance introduce the most dangerous mind in the film.

Questions

Inglourious Basterds: quick answers

What filmmaking techniques does Inglourious Basterds use?: CineCode breaks down 7 techniques in Inglourious Basterds (2009): Counterfactual Narrative, Unbroken Dialogue Scene, Triangulated Moral Ambiguity, Violence as Cathartic Argument, Genre Collage, Anachronistic Soundtrack and Pop Culture Monologue.
Who directed Inglourious Basterds?: Quentin Tarantino directed Inglourious Basterds, released in 2009. CineCode also covers Reservoir Dogs (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994), Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003), Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), Death Proof (2007).
What films are similar to Inglourious Basterds?: Films that share techniques with Inglourious Basterds include Pulp Fiction (1994), Django Unchained (2012), Snatch (2000), Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003).

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