Tops at the box office. Some are squemish, but most enjoy. Not only sex sells in Hollywood but justice as well, even if imaginary.
Reviewed in Wall Street Journal:
"Inglourious Basterds" takes place during the war. Rabbi Roth notes: "There is a principle in Jewish law that if someone is coming to kill you, you should kill them first. That's not revenge—that's self-defense." And, as Mr. Tarantino himself told me: "If you're dealing with people like the Nazis . . . well, you either eat the wolf or the wolf eats you."
Good reviews in Germany, too
Eli Roth, an American actor and director who plays one of the Inglourious Basterds, told interviewers that as a Jewish child, he would have fantasies about killing Nazis. He described the movie as "kosher porno," and said that in Germany, he got the impression that Jews and Germans had a mutual interest in enjoying the film.
"It was great to see the Germans really hated the Nazis as much as Jews did," he said. "If anyone else has been burdened by this legacy, it's them."
"The audience in the theater laughed out loud, but their laughter stuck in their throats," wrote the film critic of the German magazine Tip, who likewise recommended the movie to his readers. The Die Welt film critic seemed to get to the heart of the matter: "Tarantino chases away the Nazi dybbuk and sends Hitler to hell," he wrote. "Historical precision is necessary, but fantasy helps us achieve a catharsis."
