Colonel Land - a sadist and fetishist, SS bloodhound, cynic and villain - in the provocative project of Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds" Christophe Waltz unmatched on screen. His character definitely went down in the history of cinema.
Cinephile Tarantino Fantasy
It is not surprising that the film “Inglourious Basterds” by K. Tarantino caused a controversy among the regulars of the Cannes Film Festival. This time, one of the outstanding visionaries of our time pleased the cinema community with an unconventional authorial look at individual episodes of the Second World War.
According to the director, not only fascist invaders were boundless at this terrible time. On the territory of France, supposedly a partisan formation of a special purpose was operating, which included exclusively American Jews. The detachment was not inferior in cruelty to the SS. For this reason alone, the picture should not be regarded as a historical epic, because there is as much credibility in it as in the Russian comedy tape Hitler Kaput. This movie story about how the Third Reich died from cinema is the author's rethinking of the canonical genre - the military thrash of the 70s.
Splitting into several movie novels
Hans Landa, one of the main characters of Inglourious Basterds, comes to the fore in two of the five movie novels that make up the picture. In the first, where he leads the highest level psychological game, the director is based on the psychological confrontation between Landa and the farmer.
According to the plot, the Frenchman Perrier LaPaditu (Denis Menoche) is suspected by the Nazis of harboring the Dreyfus Jewish family, so an SS colonel, deservedly nicknamed the "Jewish Hunter", is sent to him. During the interrogation, conducted in the form of a skillful conversation, Hans Landa forces the farmer to give out the unfortunate, and Dreyfus is shot. Only Shoshanne (Melanie Laurent) , the nineteen-year-old daughter of a Jewish couple, can survive and hide. This is how the viewer gets acquainted with one of the central characters - the colonel of the SS, the main antagonist who compares Jews to rats because of their ability to survive in any conditions.
At the climax
Further, the story introduces the audience to a no less vivid gallery of characters. But in the fifth short story, which is the most suspense, Landa again comes to the fore. The top of Nazi society, including the high command, is going to the premiere of the film "Pride of the Nation" in the cinema of the surviving Shoshanna, who changed her name to Emmanuel Mimieux. The effect of the narrative is added by separate episodes such as those when Hitler, who came out of a box, asks for cud from the guards. But the “Bastards” are not asleep, they intend to blow up the building, and Shoshanna, obsessed with revenge, set fire to it. However, Hans Landa practically destroys their plans. In general, Tarantino in the last short story turned out to be a worthy culmination of the entire previous phantasmagoria.
For reliability
Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds is practically the brightest and most amazing character. The role of the Standartenfuhrer SS was played by the talented actor Christoph Waltz. Before the Tarantino project, the Austrian actor mainly played in television films (“Commissar Rex”, “Puppet Killer”) and was known only in Germany and Austria. In the United States, until 2009, few people knew about him. He fell into the focus of the cinema community and the audience after participating in Inglourious Basterds. It was a surprise for many colleagues when the actor who played Hans Landa was awarded the Golden Globe Award and the Cannes Film Festival prize .
Initially, it was planned to give the role of Hans to Leonardo DiCaprio, but the director convinced the production group that the German actor should play the Nazi officer . For at least in this there must be certainty. And then Christoph Waltz was invited, who justified the confidence of the director and played his role without exaggeration brilliantly.
When the viewer is thrilled
From the skill of Christoph Waltz, the audience was delighted. About what Brad Pitt is capable of, many knew, and after watching a particular shock did not feel. But the appearance in the image of Hans Land of an almost unknown actor, who literally from the first minutes of timekeeping surprised and interested everyone watching, made a very serious impression.
Christophe played his character extremely subtly. At first glance, Landa is a charming and gentle individual, who at the same time inspires incredible fear and justifiable fears. Surprisingly, the hero by ostentatious gentleness, almost by participation, achieves more than the threat of physical violence and torture. The character turned out to be unsurpassably unique, it is not surprising that he entered the history of world cinema. By the way, in real life, the actor’s son is a rabbi.
It is also striking that Waltz speaks four European languages perfectly in the film: German, French, Italian and English. It is not surprising that the actor dubbed his hero in the German version of the film. Separate phrases of the character went into quotes. Hans Landa is one of the most cited characters in Quentin Tarantino's filmography, and Inglourious Basterds occupy 64th position in the Top 250 on IMDB. This is undeniable success.