MUGI – My Unique Gift Idea

With less than a month until the local debut of his purported masterpiece The Inglourious Basterds, director Quentin Tarantino is heading out to Israel for the film’s premier in the Jewish State on September 17.

The film, a shockingly gory display of brutal Nazi-killing at the hands of a special team of eight Jewish-American soldiers looking to exact revenge and fear among the army of anti-Semitic, murderous fascists, is being anxiously awaited by many in Israel, a big proportion of whose population are direct descendants of Holocaust survivors.

It will be Tarantino’s first ever visit to Israel, and some of the actors of the film may join him on the trip.

The storyline of the film features the small gang of “Basterds,” so-called by their Nazi enemies, who drop behind enemy lines in France during World War II. Their commander, Lieutenant Aldo Raine, played by Brad Pitt, demands each of his soldiers give him 100 Nazi scalps. Not only that, but he actually wants the physical scalps as souvenirs. Along the way, they find out that Hitler is planning to attend a Gala premier of one of Joseph Goebbels’ movies, the Nazi Party’s propaganda head. The Basterds do what they can to blow up the theater, and get rid of all the “rotten eggs in one basket.”

Long known for introducing gratuitous violence and guts into his movies (Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill, for two), this would be the first time Tarantino has ventured into the realm of historical fiction, with the era of World War II and the Holocaust sure to evoke powerful emotions in many of its Israeli viewers especially.

For those who enjoy watching the brutal death of Nazis at the hands of Jews avenging the mass murder of millions of their European brethren, the film will surely be a huge hit. For those who like light dramadies, chick flicks, and romantic comedies, you might want to skip this one.