Top Ten Movies

While each and every year remains significant to movie buffs and cinephiles for a whole array of reasons including things like top grossing films, box office bombs, award winning performances, the deaths with their eternal message of finality hold a very special place leaving behind a trail of bitter sweet memories. Even 2009, till now has got its share of bereavements, some coming as an end to full and recognized lives while others that have left many wondering and questioning the all seeing eye and his divine notion of reason and justice.

The event that really left the whole world along with movie lovers almost dazed with shock was the untimely demise of actress Natasha Richardson on 18th March in Quebec as a result of a skiing accident. The 45 year old was the daughter of director Tony Richardson and the legendary Vanessa Redgrave and was married to Irish star Liam Neeson. She has been fondly remembered for Patty Hearst (1988), The Handmaid’s Tale (1990) and Maid in Manhattan (2002) among many other films. The other such death that left film lovers all upset and astounded with grief was that of American screen star Patrick Swayze, who passed away on 14th September from pancreatic cancer at the age of 57. The star of films like Dirty Dancing, Ghost, Point Break, City Of Joy and Waking Up in Reno including several others was diagnosed with the illness in late 2008 though he continued acting till his last day.

Among those whose deaths can be described as matured, nonetheless equally hurting for the lovers of the silver screen, the first to name would be the legendary Karl Malden who died on 1st July at the age of 97. One of the last survivors of the golden age of Hollywood, his name is associated with eternal screen classics such as A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront, One Eyed Jacks, I Confess, Baby Doll, How The West Was Won, Cheyenne Autumn, Patton and The Cincinnati Kid which only form a minor percentage of a long filmography that spanned for six decades. Composer Maurice Jarre, whose “Lara’s Theme” is considered to be one of the greatest pieces of film music ever recorded, also died this year on March 28. The 84 year old Frenchman is equally lamented by members of film as well as musical fraternity who left behind an impressive body of work including scores for films like Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, Topaz, The Last Tycoon, Witness and Ghost along with countless such other equally enchanting pieces of works. 2009 would also be certainly etched into the memory of cinephiles for the demise of two beloved and very dear antagonists. One of them is the iconic David Carradine whose portrayal of Bill in Quentin Tarantino’s epic Kill Bill will certainly go down in history. The other is German born actor Joseph Wiseman who breathed life into the immortal creation of the title role in the maiden Bond flick Dr. No.

There’s this final shot in Quentin Tarantino’s latest World War II flick “Inglourious Basterds” where Brad Pitt almost looks straight into the camera with an admiring expression on his face and says “…I think this is my masterpiece”. This one comment literally summarizes the past two and a half hours screen time and the director’s own observation regarding the film and apparently a huge section of film fraternity all across the globe are quite inclined to agree with him in this regard. With this film, movie buffs will be acquainted with a more thoughtful, matured and wise avatar of this renowned video brat who has already made his place in the medium’s history with films like Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and the two volume epic Kill Bill among others.

Unlike his previous offerings, this film has a comparatively simpler plot and is even narrated in a linear fashion. However, the film gathers its strength from various other aspects making the idea of plot and narrative really insignificant compared to them. As Tarantino himself describes it, Inglourious Basterds is definitely a commentary on the Spaghetti Western which becomes quite evident in the opening sequence which is even titled “Once upon a time in Nazi occupied France” as a tribute to the legendary Sergio Leone. Besides using a Leone like choreographed cinematography, editing pattern accompanied by score composed by the inimitable Ennio Morricone, the viewers are introduced in this sequence to Standartenführer Hans Landa, a notorious Jew Hunter played with a delicious relish and panache by Cristoph Waltz and Shosanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent) who is a Jewish girl on the run with her family massacred by Landa. Thus the viewer’s are left with the two typical genre archetypes of the western; the lone avenger and the evil antagonist with considerable shades of grey tones.

Despite marked differences in style and approach from his earlier films, there are certain familiar Tarantino touches in the film which are equally enjoyable. Besides the quirky sense of humor injected in unlikely sequences, there is the shadow like presence of his comic strip sensibilities in sequence build up and characterizations along with sudden shifts to non fiction and documentary mode of address of both satirical and serious nature in case of the backdrop of Hugo Stiglitz and the commentary on the flammable nature of nitrate films both narrated by Samuel Jackson. An almost tactile and tangible symptom of Tarantino’s maturity becomes evident in his structuring of the film where he draws his tale not from history but from the concept of war presented in films and the notion of audience sympathizing with a party. In the penultimate sequence where ironically inside a cinema house and during a screening of a war propaganda film a large assortment of German people including a major section of Nazi political leadership are gunned down by the Basterds while the former are unarmed the notion of spectatorship of war films is questioned and thus disturbed in an unprecedented way and on a concluding note one must say that only Tarantino could pull off this thing while keeping up the usual cool and casual demeanor.