STUDIO SYNOPSIS
"Inglourious Basterds" (sic) begins in German-occupied France, where Shosanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent) witnesses the execution of her family at the hand of Nazi Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz). Shosanna narrowly escapes and flees to Paris, where she forges a new identity as the owner and operator of a cinema.

Elsewhere in Europe, Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) organizes a group of Jewish soldiers to engage in targeted acts of retribution. Known to their enemy as "The Basterds," Raine's squad joins German actress and undercover agent Bridget Von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger) on a mission to take down the leaders of The Third Reich. Fates converge under a cinema marquee, where Shosanna is poised to carry out a revenge plan of her own..

SPIRITUAL POINT OF VIEW
Visual Review

Quentin Tarantino said “I like that it’s the power of the cinema that fights the Nazis. But not just as a metaphor, as a literal reality.” This may be the first popular film to explore how the power of media was used against the evil Nazi regime. The power of cinema is powerful.

The film is about revenge against the Nazis. What we have here is the Dietrich Bonheoffer problem.  He was a major Christian theologian who came to the conclusion that in order to stop the killing of millions of people, Hitler needed to die. He believed he had a moral and spiritual obligation to supersede the usual “turn the other cheek” ideal. How do you come down on this issue? In Inglourios Bastards there is no question what they feel their mission is.

The great civil rights leader, the Martin Luther King Jr. wisely said that we must develop “a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.” What would such a method be, in light of the fact that the world suffers from Adolph Hitler types on occasion?