“Wait for the cream…”: The Nature of the Trickster in Hans Landa
To Monsieur LaPadite, the day seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary. We encounter him chopping away at a tree stump, each blow of his axe showering the ground in wood chippings. He and his children lived on a farm in the French countryside, tending to cattle in an area of France that seemed to be pure of any sign of Nazi occupation. It was a beautiful day, skies painted blue and radiant sunlight beaming in every direction. We see an over the shoulder shot of his daughter hanging a white sheet, anguish flooding her face as she hears a haunting sound. She pulls the white sheet back, exposing her family’s veiled isolation to a squadron of Nazi vehicles: a black entourage tearing through an otherwise picturesque day as Beethoven’s Für Elise played ominously upon their arrival. Colonel Hans Landa would soon make it a day that Monsieur LaPadite would never forget.
Colonel Hans Landa, played by Christoph Waltz, is one of the most feared members of the Third Reich in Tarantino’s alternate universe. His reputation precedes him every where he goes, as he has been notoriously tagged “The Jew Hunter” by the people of France for his remarkable affinities for rounding up Jews in hiding. Landa shamelessly embraces the nickname as compliment to his talents. “But I, on the other hand, love my unofficial title, precisely because I’ve earned it”, he says proudly after taking a satisfying sip from his glass of milk. He cherishes the name because it recognizes his specific set of qualities that allow him to be superior at his job, an area of his life in which he is extremely proud. These talents come from his ability to “think like a Jew”, making it possible for him to see what other German soldiers cannot. He considers himself to be more of a detective than a murderer, an identity characterized by his large pipe and sharp interrogation skills. He knows where you’re hiding because he, too, would hide there if he was a Jew because he thinks like one. This mindset carries no sympathy for those he searches for, because although he can think like a Jew, he takes great pleasure in ending their attempts at evasion.
When Landa arrives at the countryside home of Monsieur LaPadite, he is charming and polite. He extends greetings to LaPadite who returns them with clear trepidation. LaPadite towers over Colonel Landa in stature. He is immediately portrayed as formidable, as the camera shows close-ups of the bearded man, drenched in sweat, wielding an axe while chopping a tree down. This image of the hardworking man is the essence of tough, someone that would be unaffected by hardly anything, let alone petty interrogations. The two men gather inside, and Landa makes LaPadite comfortable, allowing him to smoke his pipe while he himself drinks his milk. Everything seems like another routine check-up to Monsieur LaPadite, who had already been questioned by Nazi officials nine months earlier. Landa reveals his true intentions, offering direct threats to LaPadite, bringing his family’s safety as well as his own into question with warnings of what may happen if LaPadite refuses to cooperate in any way. LaPadite is faced with choosing his family’s lives of the lives of his neighbors, and is ultimately forced to surrender his Jewish refugees by revealing their location in the floorboards. Monsieur LaPadite, the burly, intimidating man who greeted the Colonel in front of his home, had been reduced to tears by a man who minutes earlier was complimenting the freshness of his tasty milk.
Lewis Hyde writes in Trickster Makes this World that a trickster derives creative intelligence from appetite. Their hunger fuels their proficiencies in deception, deceit, and unmasking others as a way to achieve necessary satisfaction. In Greek mythology, Hermes is the quintessential trickster, as he serves as the patron of thievery and is the inventor of lying. In other folklore, animals are the tricksters of the world, often represented by the monkey, the fox, the coyote, and the rabbit. Tricksters not only thrive but survive with a deep intelligence that is a fatal weapon to all, it disguises the intentions of the trickster and unveils the intentions of others.
Landa is a trickster. His intimidation stems from his ability to penetrate the mental defense of anyone he interrogates. Aside from his trickery as a weapon of his occupation, Landa reaps great enjoyment from the process, as well as the reputation he has developed through the process which feeds his insatiable hunger, a hunger exhibited through women and cuisine. When Monsieur LaPadite confirms Landa’s inquiry about whether he was aware of his existence, Landa seems reassured and proud that even farm folk deep in the French countryside have been touched in some way be the talents he has so generously exhibited in their country. He often conceals his advantages and allows others to believe that they’re outsmarting him, as evident in his conversation with Bridget Von Hammersmark at the premiere of Stolz der Nation (Nation’s Pride). He already suspects that she is spying for the Allies because he found her shoe and autographed napkin in the bloody aftermath at the bar, but for amusement purposes he allows her to continue her story about breaking her foot while mountain climbing, an orgasmic experience while he simmers in his dominance. This allowance illustrates deep insight into Landa’s character, one composed of a dire need for dominance. His toleration of her lies shows both that he enjoys true pleasure in exercising his dominance, be it passively or actively, and his prioritization of his own prosperity over that of the German state. He’s an opportunist, and when opportunity strikes, he chooses what best serves himself.
Shosanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent), known by her alias of Emmanuelle Mimiuex, is a trickster herself. She escaped from Landa’s massacre at the farmhouse, and has been dreaming of revenge in her family’s honor ever since. When Landa and Shosanna finally reunite, it’s a mental duel of two tricksters. She, unlike Monsieur LaPadite, resists Landa’s charm; her guard never comes down. When the waiter comes to the table, Landa orders an espresso for himself and a glass of milk for Shosanna, clearly a nod to her family’s life on the dairy farm. His arrogant, patriarchal mentality is apparent, as he patronizes Shosanna like a child by not only speaking on her behalf, but ordering a drink meant for children. He continues exercising his dominance, chastising her, saying to “wait for the cream” before she eats her strudel. When the cream has arrived, Landa attacks it ravenously. His brutality toward the strudel isn’t necessarily an act of hunger, but further illustration of his exertions of power. The strudel scene is important, because it symbolizes quite literally the intangible hunger that the trickster possesses. To quench that hunger, the trickster must receive his satisfaction by trapping his victim, but Shosanna never falters. He interrupts her to advise “not to feel anxious”, a self-assurance of his upper hand despite that she hadn’t shown much anxiety at all. He seems aware that she isn’t taking the bait, and that excruciating pain is taken out on the strudel with countless, violent stabbings by fork.
Landa’s trickery isn’t upsetting Shosanna as planned; she won’t take the bait in his mind games. He attempts to maintain his composure, but is slowly losing it as evident in his savage table manners. His final mind game comes as he lights a cigarette, similar to the sequence of interrogation that occurred at Monsieur LaPadite’s farmhouse when he lit his pipe. Again, he lowers the charming façade to reveal his cold, unforgiving self. He stares deep into Shosanna as if telepathically telling her he recognizes her, but when she doesn’t crack, he stabs his cigarette into the strudel in composed frustration, leaving the table unsatisfied.
Hamartia is a Greek word that translates directly as “to miss the mark” or “to err”. Commonly associated with Greek tragedy, hamartia is the defect in a character’s personality, known as the fatal flaw, which eventually leads to their demise. Hans Landa’s fatal flaw is his arrogance. His tenure as the Jew Hunter has been filled with successes of his trickery, so much so that he believes he can fool anyone. When he orchestrates his terms of agreement with the American government, he believes he’s pulled his biggest trick yet. His assumption that he has Aldo Raine fooled is what leads to his downfall, as he turns over all of his weapons, rendering himself defenseless.
Parents always advise their children to develop humility, because there will always be someone smarter in the world, no matter how smart you think you are. Hans Landa’s parents clearly never conveyed that message. He truly believes he can out-wit anyone, but sometimes wit only goes so far. What Landa possesses in intelligence is ultimately bogged down by his arrogance; his hamartia, which results in his unexpected maiming despite his own perceptions of his success. Sometimes, the trickster is so arrogant that they end up tricking themselves.
Works Cited
Hyde, Lewis. Trickster Makes This World: Mischief, Myth, and Art. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998. Print.
