A 'Glourious' tale of revenge

Although "Inglourious Basterds" bears the trappings of Quentin Tarantino’s other films - a woman exacting sweet revenge, surrounded by interestingly-filmed brutality, set to an unusual (but surprisingly appropriate) soundtrack - this might be his best so far.

There’s something about a WWII revenge-fantasy that inevitably resonates with audiences, but even more significant is the ability to make an artfully crafted film also intensely entertaining. The over-the-top performances of Brad Pitt and Christoph Waltz (as Lt. Raine and SS Officer Landa) fit just as well into the 1940s alternate-universe as the understated performance of Mélanie Laurent as Shosanna.

The film follows two storylines in Nazi-occupied France: one involving the “Basterds,” a group of Nazi-scalping, Jewish-American soldiers, and one involving Shosanna, a vengeance-minded Jewish cinema owner. Special features include trailers, extended scenes, and a 6-minute version of the film-within-a-film, “Stolz der Nation” (“Nation’s Pride”).

The extended scenes add little besides the awkward and frightening sequence in which Goebbels grills Shosanna on why she doesn’t screen his films. The complete “Nation’s Pride,” though unsurprising, does possess cinematic flair (and a gleefully perverted homage to the famous “Odessa steps” sequence).

The special edition also contains a round-table discussion with Tarantino, Pitt and critic Elvis Mitchell and a “Making of ‘Nation’s Pride’” featurette, which has Eli Roth (who directed the segment) as Alois von Eichberg, Sylvester Groth as Joseph Goebbels, Julie Dreyfus as Francesca Mondino, and the fabulous Daniel Brühl as Fredrick Zoller. Although a commentary is conspicuously absent, the features overall are thorough and entertaining.