Fighting Fascism Has Never Looked Better With Inglourious Basterds' 4K UHD Upgrade
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Ask any fan what their favorite Quentin Tarantino release is, it’s plausible you’ll receive a different answer each time. Pulp Fiction changed the cinematic landscape. Jackie Brown is a nuanced crime thriller. Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2 provide a high-quality showcase of Tarantino’s non-linear narrative powers, while Once Upon A Time in Hollywood touched many fans with its nostalgic love letter to earlier Hollywood. At the same time, Inglourious Basterds, Tarantino’s tribute to hating Nazis and loving World War II movies, also has a strong claim to be considered the director’s best work.
Marked by incredible character work by Christoph Waltz, Brad Pitt, and others, an excellent and tightly structured script, and stunning technical precision, it’s bold, entertaining, and uncompromising. Thanks to a beautiful new 4K release from Arrow Video, Inglourious Basterds has never looked better outside the theater.
How Was Inglourious Basterds Received Upon Release?
Inglourious Basterds follows the efforts of two sets of protagonists to kill the Nazi leadership, including Adolf Hitler himself. On the one hand, you have “the Basterds,” an American black ops commando unit led by Aldo “The Apache” Raine (Brad Pitt) who hope to assassinate the Third Reich leadership at the premiere of their latest propaganda film. On the other, there’s Shosanna Dreyfus (Melanie Laurent), a Jewish survivor of Nazi commander Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz), who has found a new life in the guise of a French theater operator. On the eve of the premiere, they circle the Nazis with independent plans to stop them in their tracks.
The well-regarded film (89% on Rotten Tomatoes, 69% on Metacritic) received wide acclaim at the time of its release. It was nominated for eight Academy Awards at the 82nd Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay (winning Best Supporting Actor for Christoph Waltz).
Why Is Inglourious Basterds Worth Watching Today?
Waltz’s Nazi commander feels frighteningly relevant even as the film takes cartoonish swings.
We’re in an unprecedented era in United States history. An anti-science, conspiracy theory-loving U.S. President teases a future refusal to leave office while ignoring federal courts in efforts to mass-deport immigrants. He’s backed by powerful billionaires in media, with Elon Musk giving (let’s be honest) fascist salutes at mainstream GOP celebrations to so few repercussions that the gesture has become prominent in far-right circles.
Today’s era boasts significant padding in the coverage around all these worrisome issues, even to the extent of a wide rebranding of evident fascist salutes as “Roman salutes” (despite the lack of evidence that they had anything to do with Rome). It’s beyond refreshing to see a film that loudly showcases the dangerous slippery slope potential of unchecked fascist dominance while equally celebrating heroic efforts to sweep fascism into the dustbin of history.
What’s New In The Arrow 4K Release?
Mélanie Laurent’s Jewish survivor features in the most satisfying scene of the movie.
There have been many fine Inglourious Basterds releases, but the new 4K Ultra HD release from Arrow Video is the best the film has ever looked at home. Universal’s own 4K UHD release (back in 2021) was sourced and pressed from a 2K Digital Intermediate copy, for a fine release that improved upon the longstanding 2009 Blu-ray copy in color and detail. The Arrow release utilizes Universal’s own pressed 4K master, but there are subtle improvements in the overall color from Universal’s release. Most notably, my own direct comparison revealed that the blacks and shadows are darker, giving deeper shadows and better, film-accurate contrast that heightens details, while the release also sports the original lossless 5.1 mix for a richer sound.
Several new features in the Arrow release elevate the film further from the prior UHD release. The film packs an informative new audio commentary on the first disk by film critic Tim Lucas, alongside a packed second disk of extras. The release has “What Would Sally Do?”, an interview with Tarantino’s regular collaborator, editor Fred Raskin, alongside new interviews with actor Omar Doom and makeup effects supervisor Greg Nicotero.
Inglorious Basterds is getting the carpet rolled out for its Arrow 4K release.
Arrow’s release adds new informative visual essays by critics Walter Chaw and Pam Hutchinson, and “Filmmaking in Occupied France,” a new interview with film scholar Christine Leteux about the French film industry in WWII. Arrow’s release also contains all the archival features from Universal’s prior UHD release, including a roundtable discussion with Tarantino, Brad Pitt, and Elvis Mitchell, a number of featurettes, and extended and alternate scenes.
Inglourious Basterds was a bold entry when it was released in theaters in 2009, even by Tarantino’s standards. It gave a new ending to one of the darkest eras in history, proudly rejecting fascism with such verve that it added new anti-fascist icons to film canon in Aldo Raine, Shosanna Dreyfus, and the Basterds. It’s a tense, engaging story, and now is the perfect time to revisit a film that loudly shouts “fascists are bad; defeat them at all costs!” from the rooftops. Thanks to Arrow Video’s stunning new home release, it’s never been a better experience at home.
Inglourious Basterds is now available for purchase on 4K UHD from Arrow.
