US Film Comparison

US Film Comparison: Miracle at St Anna and Inglorious Basterds

Both films, Miracle at St Anna and Inglorious Bastards is both war based stories. They have many similarities such as the themes of war, unrequited love, crime, religion, and violence. They also both share the underlining meaning of how the Nazi treated these people in war. The key theme in both films would be revenge. Miracle at St Anna was an American-Italian war film and was made in 2008 and directed by Spike Lee. Inglorious Bastards is an American-German film made in 2009 and the genre of this film is War. The film was directed and written by Quentin Tarantino.

Both films share the theme of war. This is shown in Miracle at St Anna through the performance of the soldiers, the black American soldiers fighting for their country. This is also revealed through the Italian family, making the audience aware that the war wasn’t just targeting Jews or the non-Aryan race; it was also affecting the Italians. Furthermore, this is shown through Black Americans and how racism was still existent as their leading Sergeant acted as if he was superior to them and looked down upon the black soldiers as though they were inferior.  This is also shown in Inglorious Basterds with the harsh realities of eradicating the Jews, this was highlighted in the beginning scene when the Colonel asked whether the man was hiding Jewish people, he then shoots the floorboards where they were hiding. Also, this is shown through the ‘Basterds’ themselves, creating a group to attack the Nazi soldiers, which shows their desire for their revenge. This further indicates from the Jewish perspective that they’re fighting back, wanting revenge, and fighting to preserve and enforce their rights.  Furthermore, the theme of war is presented when the French were hiding the Jews, this shows a sense of defence and how they’re protecting the Jews; indicating that there was people out there trying to save the Jewish people wanting to look out for them, including the ‘Basterds’.

Furthermore, both films share the similarity of having multi protagonist, making the audience see the film from the perspective of several characters. In Miracle at St Anna, the protagonists were the black American soldiers trying to fight for their country and protecting the Italians. Furthermore, the little boy Angelo wanted freedom, he was Jewish and his family was killed in a massacre at St Anna by Nazi troops, where he escaped and was protected by the soldiers who took him in as their own.  Additionally, the Italians were also the protagonists in the film as they also wanted freedom and supported the American soldiers by hiding them in their own home. In Inglorious Basterds, Tarantino presents his protagonists through the ‘Basterds’ as their goal is to seek revenge in defence for the Jewish people being persecuted. This shows that there were groups that sacrificed their lives to save the Jews in World War Two.  Furthermore, another protagonist would be Shosanna, who survived the attack when Colonel (the Jew hunter) visited the house hiding Shosanna and her family. Later in the film, we see that Shosanna owns her own movie theatre where the Nazi’s wanted to visit the premiere, including Hitler, and her motive was to kill the Nazis, and the Bastards. We also uncover that the antagonist in both films is Hitler as his only goal was to take over parts of Europe and eradicate as many races as he could including the black Americans, Italians and Jews to make way for his ‘perfect’ Aryan race.