Inglorious Basterds (2009)

This is the biggest surprise I've had in a long while. Because of the marketing surrounding Quentin Tarantino, I thought the film was going to be an ultraviolent blood bath. It wasn't! Instead, I found brilliant dialogue, intense cinematography and some very funny characters.

In occupied France, a Nazi becomes so notorious for his ability to sniff out hiding Jews that he is nicknamed the "Jew Hunter." In reply, an American platoon composed entirely of Jews terrorizes the German army by ambushing small groups of soldiers and brutally killing them. But this is really just the back story. A Jewish girl hiding out in Paris running a cinema plots her own vengeful massacre of the German high command.

As I mentioned the dialogue makes this film a winner. I loved that Tarantino didn't use the English language as a crutch - half the film is spoken in French and German. The final scene is the most brilliant and the most disturbing - well almost.

Official Site | IMDB