“Revenge is a dish best served cold.”
– Mathilde by Marie Joseph Eugene Sue (original source)
At initial, casual glance, the current big-screen releases
Five Minutes of Heaven and
Inglourious Basterds wouldn’t appear to have much in common. The first is a straightforward drama about a man meeting the IRA assassin who killed his older brother 30+ years before. The other is a revisionist historical-fantasy by Quentin Tarantino and containing his usual flourishes of over-the-top ultra-violence, pop-culture references and offbeat casting choices.
Both, however, share the central, driving theme of vengeance. In the excellent
Five Minutes of Heaven, which is directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel (the acclaimed
Downfall and the underrated sci-fi flop
The Invasion, the latter of which is conspicuously absent from his press bio) and written by Guy Hibbert, protagonist Joe Griffin becomes increasingly — and understandably — fixated on his to-be-televised reunion with reformed killer Alistair Little as an opportunity to kill the murderer and avenge his brother’s death.
The first half of
Five Minutes of Heaven is a re-creation of true events, while the second half is a speculative take on what might have happened if Alistair and Joe had the opportunity to meet. The film’s title refers to what Joe hopes to experience while watching his brother’s killer die. When the TV reunion’s producer tells Joe that his meeting with Alistair is an opportunity for “truth and reconciliation,” Joe thinks to himself, “Truth and reconciliation? I’m going for revenge!”
James Nesbitt (
Bloody Sunday,
Millions) conveys this private hunger for vengeance most admirably through his performance as Joe. As Alistair,
Liam Neeson is initially cool as a cucumber but gradually shaken as his character becomes more aware of the consequences of his murderous actions as a teenager. Both Neeson and Nesbitt should be worthy end-of-the-year award contenders for their fine, challenging work here.
Inglourious Basterds may also emerge an award contender, and is already an audience-pleaser. It isn’t the first of Tarantino’s films to deal with the topic of revenge. Indeed, most of his films — from
Pulp Fiction through the
Kill Bill saga to his half of
Grindhouse — feature characters motivated by the desire for retribution from people who have done them wrong.
Tarantino’s latest is unique among his works, though, in that it doesn’t feature just one person against another but a band of Jewish-American operatives (led by a very funny
Brad Pitt) versus the entire Nazi party during World War II! The Basterds (the misspelling is inspired by the 1978 Italian film,
Inglorious Bastards, which was reportedly hand-written as “Inglourious Basterds” on the VHS case in the video store where Tarantino once worked) are posing both a strategic and psychological threat to Hitler’s forces via their habit of scalping the numerous German soldiers they capture.
The Basterds eventually join forces with British intelligence, a French movie-theatre owner (the beautiful
Mélanie Laurent) with a personal score to settle against the Germans, and a German movie star (a glamorous and funny Diane Kruger) who is secretly a spy for the Allies. They all face a formidable threat in the conniving SS Colonel Landa (the fascinating Christoph Waltz, who won the Best Actor award at Cannes for this performance). Mike Myers, Bo Svenson and Rod Taylor (as Winston Churchill!) also make guest appearances.
Like all of Tarantino’s movies,
Inglourious Basterds simultaneously takes inspiration from and pays homage to prior cinematic genres and achievements, including 70’s Blaxploitation films,
King Kong, Asian and martial-arts movies, film noir and, of course, the Nazis’ own works of propaganda.
Shades of the climactic opening of the Ark of the Covenant in
Raiders of the Lost Ark can be seen in this film’s fiery finale, and I especially appreciated Tarantino’s inclusion of
David Bowie’s theme song from one of my all-time faves, the 1982 remake of
Cat People. The results are generally thrilling, even if some stretches of conversation tend to the long side.
Inglourious Basterds and
Five Minutes of Heaven reach very different conclusions regarding the moral dilemmas and personal satisfaction possible in having one’s hunger for vengeance satisfied … or not. I can’t imagine a better double feature on the topic. See them, and let the debate begin.
UPDATE:
Inglourious Basterds
is available
on DVD
and
Blu-ray
and
Five Minutes of Heaven is available
on DVD
and
Blu-ray
, now from Amazon.com.
Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Orange County and Long Beach Blade.
With the school year about to start, the Movie Dearest Calendar Wallpaper for September offers a salute to cinematic teachers, from Mr. Holland to Miss Jean Brodie.
Keep up to date with all the latest from the entertainment world with the MD News Desk:
Out in Film:
Ride the Movies:
The end of the summer movie season is almost upon us, so it is time for our annual look back at the film actors that made it so memorable ... and judge them on their looks alone and anoint one the hottest hunk of the past four months or so!
With nearly 50% of the vote, Viking vamp Eric Northman (played by Alexander Skarsgård) easily slayed the competition for the MD Poll title of sexiest True Blood character. The victory celebration will be held at Fangtasia sometime after sundown tonight.
Keep up to date with all the latest from the entertainment world with the MD News Desk:
Kish:
Cinematic Crushes:
In order to keep up with all the latest in entertainment news of interest to our readers, today we are introducing a new regular feature: the MD News Desk. These posts will provide links to news stories from our various departments, ranging from what our Cinematic Crushes and Women We Love are up to lately to the latest in Movie Music to what films will be Coming Soon to a theater near you. Enjoy!
RIP:
Hands Off the Merchandise:
Movie musicals were a dying breed by the time MGM’s Fame hit theaters in 1980. However, the contemporary, R & B-flavored drama was a hit, and it subsequently kept the genre on life support for another couple of years.
I have been excited to see Julie & Julia since I first heard about it. How could any film be more delicious than one starring Amy Adams and better yet, Meryl Streep as Julia Child? As it turns out, precious few films this year can match Nora Ephron’s frothy, delectable confection, with the priceless ingredient being Streep.
1977 was a banner year for American films, what with such cinematic touchstones as Woody Allen’s Annie Hall and Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind among the year’s releases. Oh yeah, and there was a little movie called Star Wars too. Of course, Disney had its contributions as well, beginning with the animated summer hit The Rescuers. The studio closed out the year with its holiday release, Pete’s Dragon, re-released on DVD
Legally Blonde: The Musical had its southern California premiere last week at the fabled Pantages Theatre in LA. Despite the Pantages' equally-fabled acoustical problems — which rendered some lyrics unintelligible — the opening night performance cast a crowd-pleasing spell over the packed house.
Virginia Davis, Walt Disney's first star as the leading lady of his early series of silent Alice Comedies, passed away yesterday at the age of 90.
Seattle is the best place to go to see fantastic shows before they blast off for Broadway, and Catch Me If You Can is the 5th Avenue Theatre’s latest hit. Based on the 2002 Steven Spielberg film that chronicled the amazing-but-true larcenous life of teenager Frank Abagnale Jr., who convinced people he was a Pan-Am pilot, a pediatrics doctor and a Louisiana lawyer, Catch Me If You Can is a retro-smooth musical cocktail that defines “cool.”
Aaron Tveit, recently voted Broadway’s hottest man, is amazing as Frank Jr., all but erasing Leonardo DiCaprio’s long shadow in the role. He sings like the best of the crooners and he has charisma enough to power David Rockwell’s fantastic light show. From the moment he takes over the stage with his backup dancers to sing “Live in Living Color!”, you will not be able to take your eyes off him ... unless he’s making one of his many escapes from the FBI.
Frank’s first miracle job snatch is also the show’s most fun. He becomes a Pan-Am pilot smothered in swingin’ stewardesses, leading to the fabulous production number “The Jet Set”. Every time Hanratty gets close, Frank escapes, racking up 2.8 million dollars in rubber checks along the way.
I was immediately intrigued by the title, Flame & Citron, chiefly because its second part is my fave flavor of Absolut vodka. Whatever the setting, Citron always catches my attention!
and Blu-ray