Inglourious Basterds(2009) and Miracle at St Anna(2008)
These films have star studded casts, with the likes of Brad Pitt appearing in Inglourious Basterds and Derek Luke in Miracle at St Anna. With arguably two of the most successful directors such as Quentin Tarantino and Spike Lee.
Both films being set during World War II so have a major similarity when it comes to genre, both being an action drama. The only difference with their genre is that Inglourios Basterds is partially adventure where as Miracle at St Anna is crime, as well Inglourious Basterds has a slight hint of comedy about it with a couple one liners.
Themes are shared by these two films, each film includes violence, friendship, war, good vs bad, and I guess without being too controversial Nazism.
The budget of producing each of the films were high budgets. Inglourious Basterds was $75,000,000 and Miracle at St Anna was $45,000,000 . Each producing around £3,000,000 on it's opening weekend.
Inglourious Basterds was applauded at the Oscars, winning one award, where as Miracle at St Anna was not able to receive a prestigous awards like an Oscar.
The plot of Inglourious Basterds is that group of American Jewish soldiers plan to assassinate Nazi leaders
which coincides with a theatre owner's dream of getting vengeful plans which are the same.
Her plans come about due to her being Jewish and having to watch her family slaughtered by Colonel Hans Landa, in which is a very key scene especially being the first. So it is very unclear who are protagonist is due to this multi linear narrative which all intertwines to be a grand narrative. It is however very obvious that our antagonist is Colonel Hans Landa, because of his position with the Nazis. It is very easy for the audience to follow each important character due to the others being killed off once they then become irrelevant to the film. As the film progresses it all leads to a massacre of dying Nazis which would end the war.
Miracle at St Anna has a slightly different approach to this World War II theme. We follow the story of four very brave black American soldiers which are involved with the disappearance of a priceless Italian artefact. The majority of the narrative is told through flashback as quickly into the film there is a vast difference in setting and time , from the 1980's to the 1940's. We follow the 'Buffalo soldiers,' whom have the objective of reuniting themselves with the rest of their squadron, but a German ambush causes them to hide in a small Italian village populated by civilians.
As said before, both films are so alike because of how they are set during World War II, but also aline due to the likes of having foreign languages in them. The difference of these films although is significant, Inglourious Basterds shows a comedic approach to make fun of each characters involvement and to stray away from the mainstream war films. By the end of the film each character has some part to play even if what happened wasn't to their plan, which highlights what war was like. Miracle at St Anna takes a much more serious approach and uses very little outside influence compared to Inglourious Basterds. Both films do show how people dealt with the Nazi occupation even with their different ways. Although these films can be seen very different to the eye once you look closer the similarities really do stand out.
