Author Archives: jaegerp

Justice: What Could Have Been, The Movie

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Justice: What Could Have Been, The Movie

Time Stamps: Inglourious Basterds

(36:30- 38:03)

(2:23:58- 2:25:19)

(2:28:48-2:29:31)

Voice over for the first clip: Inglourious Basterds is a film that deals with some very sensitive topics, the main one being the retribution that a fictional set of Jewish Americans give to Nazi soldiers during WWII. The group, nicknamed the Basterds, mark soldiers that they let go with a swastika on their foreheads as a symbol that they have to live with for the rest of their lives, like the Germans did to Jewish people with the numbers tattooed on their wrists.

Voice over for the second clip: Another action that the Basterds partake in is the burning down of the cinema with high ranking Nazi officials inside, a reversal of cases where German soldiers had burned down barns with Jewish people inside. It is only fitting that the Basterds do this as the final case of revenge for all the atrocities committed against the Jewish people, and the scene also includes a closeup of the Basterds gunning down Hitler in his booth as overkill to the burning down of the cinema to make sure that he is killed during the event.

Voiceover for the third clip: As the cherry on top, Colonel Landa strikes a deal with the United States government and has his life after the war setup, but Brad Pitt’s character, Aldo the Apache, does not want Landa to come out of this a free man with no way of telling of what he had done, so he carves a swastika in his forehead as well. This is the representation of the final justice for every German soldier or official that came out of the war that did not face charges for crimes they committed during the war.

Transitions for scenes, simple fade in and out between scenes. No music in the background but instead having the clips audios playing behind the voiceover.

Internet Sensations

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For the last week I have been tracking my watching habits and here is a brief summary and break down of those watching habits. I have been watching a lot more media now that we are in quarantine and it consists of everything from Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, TikTok, and live White House press conferences. In recent years I have watched less and less cable TV, to now the only thing I watch on television is sports. As for this past week, I have mainly watched YouTube videos and streamers on a platform called Twitch which is mainly for people playing video games. I’ve noticed that since quarantine began my intake has gone up and with that I have branched out more from my typical content, I have watched more documentaries, specifically on YouTube and most recently one called “For the 25” which is about a military sniper unit in Afghanistan. On top of this I have also been reading more news articles about updates about the virus and things happening around the world in general. In order to keep myself busy I am watching these things whenever I have free time, so it is an all day affair. As for changes that have been happening on the internet, I have seen more content creators on multiple platforms views skyrocket. More people using it means more possible viewers and these creators are taking advantage of this in a good way, and so are the viewers. Everyone has more time to find people that make the content that interest them that maybe they wouldn’t have found normally. One of my favorite things that has come out of this is John Krasinski’s YouTube channel that he made in order to spread positivity in these troubling times. He shares stories of hope and other things that have been overshadowed by the coronavirus. Another positive to come out of this quarantine is other sorts of entertainment being able to make huge steps, like esports. Since other sports are cancelled, and esports can be played competitively remotely, they are getting air time on channels like ESPN.

Greed is Green

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In the film Joy, money is a major theme. It’s the driving force of the decision to go to Europe and it’s the reason madame’s exist. The women in the film go to Europe to find jobs that pay well in order to send money back for their families, but they are extorted by the system set up that the madame’s run. The madame’s take part in this in order to make their own small fortune, some even though they were brought through the system itself and know the difficulties and pain these young women go through, but do it anyway to make good money. This scene in particular along with a few others in the film use close up shots of money and exchanges of money to reinforce this theme. The money is of such significance that there are no faces in frame and all the focus is on it.  The close up of the money gives it power in the shot, and the two exchanging the money are at its will, for Joy it is getting back to Europe, as for the other lady it is not explained. Another part of the film that helps reinforce the power of money in the film is when Joy earns her freedom from the madame, she has earned enough money to pay off her debt and now has free will again.

Home

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I chose this still image form Fire at Sea for multiple reasons. First, from a cinematic standpoint the shot of the father talking to his son seeing his reflection creates duality in the scene. This is a common motif in the film, the doctor deals with both the lives of the refugees and the locals that live on the island. This reflection in the mirror represents that common theme. The scene also helps convey the theme of movement. For the refugees that movement is coming to Europe for a better life, for the father it is the boat, traveling around and not stopping anywhere. All the pictures that are on the boat also help with this theme because it is of people that the father met along his trip. He said he met some people from Korea specifically. The doctor’s life can be tied back into this by the movement of him going between both realities of refugees and the locals. The idea of movement and not having a home is showed via these three things. While later in the film the soccer game brings that identity back, the films focus on refugees provides evidence that it is a major theme.

“But Why”

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The two scenes put together share a common theme. That theme is “why we do things.” As for the penguin, the question “why” is to figure out the mindset of the penguin that drove it to walk out towards the mountains where the penguin has never been before. As for William Jirsa, the linguist in the clip, his “why” is what brought him to Antarctica. Both scenarios in the clip stage the question of why each one does what it does, as for the linguist we get an answer. Jirsa says that “people who are not tied down by anything fall to the bottom of the planet.” So, for him it’s because nothing was tying him down any where else, so he came there. The penguin on the other hand cannot answer the question, which leads to a mysterious situation. Herzog asks these questions the way he does to make the viewer think in a very philosophical manner. Many of the questions are left open ended so that the viewer can interpret it the way we want to. For me, the penguin walks to the mountain in hope of finding food he does not have to compete for, and for others it may be that the penguin actually is insane.

Like Father Like Son

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Like Huseyin did what was best for his family at the time, Muhamed does what was best for him. Muhamed stays behind in Turkey to build the house his father wanted their family to build before he passed. back in Germany he was unemployed and did not have much of a life outside of his family. After his father passed he thought it would be best for himself to stay behind and carry out his fathers dream of the family having a place to stay in Turkey. It makes sense for him to be the one staying behind because he had less to lose out of the siblings and it allows for him to create his own life like his father did when he moved to Germany for work. Muhamed leaves what he knows behind into the unknown to find himself and to do what is needed, like his father did before him.

To Be Or Not To Be a German Spy

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This is the scene in the film To Be or Not to Be where Miss Tura meets Siletsky for the first time and references working for the Nazis in their conversation. Siletsky brings up working for the winning side, and being a spy for the Nazi party. In the scene he says that Madam Tura is a good actor, yet he does not even realize that during this conversation she is acting like she wants to be a spy for them, but in reality she is just trying to get information out of him. Siletsky begins to flirt with her and Madam Tura goes along with it, as a good actor would. His blindness to the very trait that she is being recruited for allows for Madam Tura to play his hand. Siletsky is so sure that she will join him he is not worried about her betraying him, and that is what gives her the advantage. Later in the film when Tura goes back to where Siletsky is staying she is able to once again play him like a fiddle during their dinner. This allows for Madam Tura and her husband Joseph Tura to lure him into a trap where he is killed and Mr. Tura then plays the role of Siletsky to foil the German plans.

Mind Your Business

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While this meme is a historical one, it does contrast the basement bar scene in Inglorious Basterds. When the basterds head into the bar to meet with von Hammersmark, they were expecting no Germans to be there seeing as it was a small bar in the middle of nowhere. Unfortunately for them there were several German soldiers including a major who happen to be having a night off. In a normal situation no one would think twice about other soldiers being present at the bar, the low-ranking soldiers do a good job being portrayed as a normal group of people. In this scene sergeant Wilhelm slightly questions Hicox’s accent but other than that no one else thinks twice of it, except for the major. The major, like colonel Landa, is constantly assessing and observing everything, and that is how he catches the basterds in the act of having a meeting about Operation Kino. The German major really had no reason to be suspicious of the basterds meeting there other than him not knowing them, and instead of minding his business, like colonel Landa, he investigates and finds them in a web of lies. Tarantino keeps this character trait of the German officers being paranoid and always looking for something throughout the movie. This meme also helps show the absurdity of the semi modern European wars, where England and France continued to fight on and off for hundreds of years for the most part no reason other than ego of their crowns, and that of Germany taking over most of western Europe for no reason other than his personal ego and gains.