Author: Roger Ebert
Translator: Yi Ersan
Proofreading: Issac
Source: Rogerebert .com (August 17, 2009)
Three months after its premiere in Cannes, Quentin Tarantino's Shameless Bastards was recognized as having a surprising ending. What is Tarantino's view on rewriting history? He proves with admirable logic that he did not rewrite history: "I had no intention of rewriting history from the beginning, halfway through, or at any time. It was only when I came into conflict with it that I decided to go my own way. And when I'm doing my best, it just comes up, which is to follow, rather than guide, the characters in the film."
Shameless Bastard (2009)
He told me in an email interview, "My characters don't know they're part of history." They don't have a presupposed future and don't know what they can or can't do. I never preset my role, never. Neither will it now. So basically, my point on this issue is: (1) My role changed the course of the war. (2) But this change didn't actually happen because in real life my character simply doesn't exist. (3) If they do exist, all the characters including Frederick Zoller (Daniel Bruch), then everything that happens is quite reasonable."
To me, this argument is refreshing and almost logical. Every World War II film in film history has been made in the context of audiences understanding how World War II ended. Many of these stories take place at some point in the war, when the characters don't yet know what happened, but films that are close to the end of the war don't modify the ending without permission. Brian Singer's Action Target Hitler faces a dilemma in which Tom Cruise plays a member who secretly assassinates Hitler. He didn't know he was going to fail, but we knew.
Hitler in Action (2008)
Tarantino is bold in making history public, but boldness has always been his calling card. In the process, the director, who has a special love for the film genre, broke everyone's expectations and was simply explosive.
With "Shameless Bastard" about to be released in North America, Christopher Waltz has already won the Cannes Film Festival For Best Actor award, and he is likely to be nominated for an Oscar for playing the well-behaved Nazi villain Colonel Hans Landa. His opening scene with Dennis Menochet is very clever. A large-scale war film rarely begins with so much dialogue, so elaborate production, and such a moving performance.
"This is one of several scenes I wrote back in 1998," Tarantino said. "The way I write it is the way I write all the multi-conversational scenes. I usually let the characters start gossiping, and then they start there. I would like to add that one of the reasons I've never given up on this script over the years is that I know how great that scene is."
At a press conference after the film's Cannes premiere, Tarantino said he had auditioned numerous actors for the role of Hans Landa, but that as soon as Waltz walked into the room, he immediately felt he had found the right person.
"Except for the opening farmhouse scene, I didn't have Christopher rehearse with anyone else," he told me. "Throughout the production process, Landa has been a shadow hanging over the characters and actors. I want them to feel nervous and anxious about Landa. So I didn't want them to know what Randa would do until we were done with the scene behind. Christopher understood this, but he still wanted to rehearse, so he and I rehearsed other scenes alone. We had a lot of discussions about Lanta, especially about how and why he used interrogation techniques."
These tactics may seem courteous, but not cruel at all. Landa toyed with his sword like a cat playing with a helpless mouse. Sometimes he would pretend to let them escape, such as when he was acting with German actress Bridget von Hammersmark (Diane Krueger), who was a double-sided spy for the Allies. Notice how he complimented her, and how he hooked her —so to speak, before he threw away the other shoe.
Tarantino's filming of Kruger and Melanie Roland (who plays the heroic cinema owner Sorsanna) was impressive. On the important night of Sosanna's premiere, Tarantino showed her lips, shoes, veils, tight dresses and cigarettes in a fetishistic way.
"I have to admit that I only met von Sternborough very late," Tarantino said. "I read a book about him before I went to his films to do research. Then there's his autobiography, which I think is one of the best critical books on the art of cinema and its limitations. Among cinematic geniuses like Kubrick and Wells... My favorite genius is von Sternberg. I think I gave Kruger more von Stern-esque treatment than Roland."
Roland contributed a superstar-like performance, from the frightened young girl in the opening scene to the innocent girl standing on the ladder to the snake and scorpion beauty in the screening room.
"Innocent girl, yes." But you have to believe that if that poor innocent guy who works in a movie lab doesn't do what they say, she'll kill him. Plus, I like the idea, and maybe it's not the first time Marcel [her lover] and she's had to use these tactics over the course of years of survival."
Tarantino's dialogue is always different. It often creates imaginative horror scenes in the audience's mind, which is an effective way to create suspense. In Pulp Fiction, for example, the dangerous Martha Wallace is portrayed as cute. I asked Tarantino a few questions about style strategy.
Pulp Fiction (1994)
"There's a director I've never taken seriously before," he says, "and he's Joseph Mankiewicz." I always confuse him with directors like Fred Kinniman, Maovin Leroy, Robert Wise, and William Wheeler. However, I discovered him two years ago, especially when he was directing his own screenplay, and I found a lot in common with him.
And I believe that if Mankiewicz were to make a Western, a war movie, or a Hercules muscular male film, it would be a dialogue-dominated "rambling" work. The use of the word "rambling" as if it were a bad thing really made me angry. His Comet Beauty is very "wordy". It's also an absolute masterpiece."
Comet Beauty (1950)
Like all his films, Tarantino seems to somehow avoid a single tone, moving freely between genres such as plot, melodrama, parody, satire, action, suspense, love, and intrigue. That's how I asked.
"All of the above." But I think parody and sarcasm are inextricably linked. For me, the only real parody scene is the Scene by Mike Myers, which is a parody of a Movie of a Group of People on Mission during World War II, with a large map, a large room, and an explanatory scene from the opening. I'll add comedy to it, not just parody or satire."
I also have a few questions:
Brad Pitt spoke Italian. Is it for fun? Or did it induce him to abandon the action? I think it's funny how he looks like he's learning. You find the perfect balance on the edge of the overheat.
"I have to say that it was Brad's idea — to pretend to be a hillbilly Pornow. After seeing him do this, it was clear that the decision was made."
When Morricone's soundtrack opens, if the audience closes their eyes, they may think they are watching a Western. Isn't it?
"For the first two chapters of the film, I wanted it to look like an Italian-style Western with a World War II look."
Did you shoot it on film, or did the numbers already do it so well? I guess it's film.
"I'll never be able to shoot digitally!" Film to death!"