“And the Germans, will fear us.”

Lynching. Hanging. Visiting the gallows. There are many terms to describe the act of a person being hung, and the second word that almost always follows in someone’s head is death or murder. However, this was not the case for first lieutenant Aldo Raine, who’s massive scar around his neck both defines his character and intimidates his enemies. Raine, an army legend from Maynardville, Tennessee is played by Brad Pitt in Inglorious Basterds. His first scene consists of a speech directed to the 8 Jewish-American soldiers in his team. This scene gives us essential background information on Aldo, including many connections to previous movies and actual historical background. Through analysis of both the film and it’s script, one can see that during this scene Quentin Tarantino also uses many cinematic techniques to emphasize certain people and text.

Chapter Two: Inglorious Basterds

The camera begins at a bird’s eye view above the fleet, also referred to as an exterior shot in the script, showing the audience the number of soldiers in the “Inglorious Basterds,” their clothing and guns. It’s interesting that the soldiers look very put together and orderly in this scene because their war tactics later in the film are obviously very informal. Without reading the script, the audience doesn’t know exactly where this scene is located. The audience can tell that is it a military base of some kind by the building in the shot, but it’s unclear what country or continent they are in. However, Tarantino mentions in the script that the location is “somewhere in England” and during the day.

The camera quickly moves to a close up shot of Aldo’s face, including cinematic framing of his scar. No one knows exactly where the large scar across his neck came from and the script specifically states that it will never be explained, but it’s rumored to be from a hanging. This scar is also a reference to one of the protagonists, Tuco, in The Good the Bad and the Ugly, who has avoided death by hanging many times. The Good the Bad and the Ugly is a film filled with bounty hunters, killing, and the Civil War, a very similar setting to another one of Tarantino’s films, The Hateful Eight.

In the script Tarantino describes Raine as “a hillbilly from the mountains of Tennessee” which explains Raines’ thick southern accent. The accent comes off almost humorous because it is known that the actor Brad Pitt does not have any form of an accent. It seems out of place for him to pronounce words like “de-stroyed” and speak in oddly worded sentences like “I need me eight soldiers.” He often uses the word “y’all” through out this scene which makes the accent very accurate. The accent got so much attention that The Hollywood Reporter even ranked it on the list of “Brad Pitt’s 5 Funniest Accents.” Pitt’s funny accent lightens up the film a little, which is refreshing after seeing many blood-filled war scenes. One of the very first things Aldo says to his soldiers after introducing himself is that he needs “Eight — Jewish — American — soldiers.” Quentin Tarantino has Pitt put emphasis on these words to make them stand out in his speech. It makes it quite obvious to the audience that these are the “good guys” or protagonists that will be fighting against the Nazis. Next, Pitt says a line in this scene that is not seen in the script. He says, “I am the direct descendant of the mountain man Jim Bridger, which means I got a little engine in me. And our battle plan will be that of an Apache Resistance.” At this point in the scene, the audience doesn’t know what Aldo means by an “Apache Resistance,” but that detail becomes clear later on. Jim Bridger was one of the foremost mountain men, trapper and scout of the West in the 1820–50s. Bridger had many children while out west and some of them “were sent back east to be educated.” This information makes it likely that, in the film, the character Aldo Raine could actually be a descendant of Jim Bridger. Small facts like these pop up in almost every Tarantino film and make his movies seem clever and witty. Additionally, one website claims that in “Quentin Tarantino’s Universe” Aldo Raine is the great grandfather of the pot-head character, Floyd, who is played by a younger Brad Pitt, in True Romance.

Later in the scene, the camera angle moves to a shot from behind the soldier’s backs looking at Aldo. This gives the audience a feeling of what it’s like to be one of the soldiers standing there in the scene. He also makes it very obvious that he and the rest of the Basterds are very against the Germans through out this scene.

“And the Germans, will be sickened by us.

And the Germans, will talk about us.

And the Germans, will fear us.”

Raine seems fearless as he confidently talks about parachuting his eight men into France to fight against an entire Nazi army. He makes it very clear that his team’s first priority is to kill any Nazi they see, to scalp them and to make the Nazis fear them. Specifically, he tells each member of the Basterds that they are to get him 100 Nazi scalps or they are going to die trying. Connecting back to what Aldo said earlier in the scene, his tendency to scalp every Nazi he kills rewarded him the nickname “The Apache.” This name stems from the Apache Indian Tribe who have a tradition of scalping their enemies after killing them. After this line, the scene immediately cuts to a location in Germany, with Adolf Hitler screaming “No!” in German as he complains about the successes of the Basterds, making it obvious to anyone watching the film that Hitler is the antagonist of the story.

By the end of this scene and when it cuts to Hitler, the audience is almost rooting for the Basterds to “win” against the Nazis. It sets the scene (no pun intended) for the rest of the film and gives essential background information on Aldo Raine and the situation. This is also such a pivotal scene in the beginning of the film because it introduces the audience to The Inglorious Basterds and gives details about the soldiers through the use of cinematic techniques. Overall, the scene shows the “brewing of the storm,” or the birth the Inglorious Basterds.