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Inglourious Basterds and Perspective

Last night I finally put my Christmas tree up.   It's a longer process than it should be, since it's an artificial tree that needs to have each branch fluffed and shaped.  The usual protocol has me putting the tree up and stringing the lights, and the next evening the kids put the ornaments up.

As part of the protocol, I park myself in front of the TV and watch a movie.

The movie this year was Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. 

The film is set in a fictional version of World War II France, and consists of two parallel stories - one involving Brad Pitt's Lt. Aldo Raine and his team of Nazi killing soldiers, and the other following Melanie Laurent's Shoshanna Dreyfus on her path to avenge her family's murder at the hands of Nazi soldiers several years earlier.   The threads are woven together by a third story line that I don't need to get into.

I usually enjoy Tarantino's films (although I'll admit that I've never particularly cared for Reservoir Dogs, and it took me several viewings to appreciate Pulp Fiction), largely because his characters tend to be...unconventional.

What jumped out at me in Inglourious Basterds, though, was the variety of perspectives that were explored in the film - how Tarantino took one basic situation, the Nazi occupation of France, and presented it through at least half a dozen different perspectives.   

Perspectives are interesting.  We (as a society and as individuals) don't always give due consideration to perspectives other than our own.  It's difficult to do.  For one thing, to consider things from other perspectives means considering that our own perspective might be wrong.  That can be a very uncomfortable thought for a lot of people. 

But I think it's crucial that we make an honest attempt to do it.

Jay

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