Inglorious Basterds (2009)
As Lt. Aldo Raine (inspired by the name of the late actor Aldo Ray?), a larger-than-life military figure, Pitt delivers a fiery speech that sets the mood for the entire film.
His aggressive, cynical and comic demeanor adds to the intensity of words Tarantin is knwn for. He pulls the audience into the world of WWII-era Europe, setting the tone for the film that is both exciting and unforgettable.
Setting
In 1944, U.S. Army lieutenant Aldo Raine, battle-hardened commanding officer, recruits Jewish-American soldiers to the “Basterds,” a black ops commando unit tasked with instilling fear among Nazis in occupied France by killing and scalping them.
The group includes Sergeant Donny “The Bear Jew” Donowitz, privates first class Smithson Utivich and Omar Ulmer, rogue German sergeant Hugo Stiglitz, and Austrian-born translator Corporal Wilhelm Wicki.
Raine leaves a swastika mark on surviving German soldiers so they can’t hide their Nazi affiliations after the war. He is nicknamed “Aldo the Apache” due to his trademark of scalping Germans.
Raine is a coal miner and bootlegger from the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, where he fought against the Ku Klux Klan. He survived a lynching and is a descendant of Jim Bridger and the Bridger family. A member of the Devil’s Brigade, he was trained in guerrilla warfare.
