Cawley Inglourious Basterds

Although the Basterds as a whole are my favorite characters from Tarantino’s masterpiece, “Inglourious Basterds”, Sgt. Donny Donowitz, popularly known as “The Bear Jew”, is my favorite of them all. He is essentially a Jewish soldier fighting against Nazi Germany. The most interesting part about his character is his sheer brutality in the midst of his doing good. Most everybody considers the Nazi party to be the ultimate evil, however, in the analysis of Donny Donowitz, he can be described as being just as brutal and unforgiving; A “Nazi” of his own kind. This can partly be observed in the scene in which he emerges from the tunnel to pummel the Nazi officer. Once he is called to execute the man, there is a huge suspenseful pause as he slowly walks into the scene, hitting the side of the tunnel with his baseball bat. The sound he makes on the wall is haunting while the tunnel is black and nothing can be seen inside. The camera juxtaposes the fear of the three Nazi’s faces with a zoom into the tunnels black pit. The slow zoom of the tunnel’s opening coupled with the echoing slams of the bat against the side creates a hellish doom of sorts. As he becomes visible at the exit of the tunnel, the music playing reaches its climax. Moments latter he is bashing in the head of the Nazi officer. The way the shot of him exiting the tunnel is set is even more frightening than the violence itself. One of the final scenes can be broken down a similar way. As the theatre hosting the premiere of “Nation’s Pride” goes up in flames, Donowitz, along with a partner, are camped in Hitler’s booth, having an aerial view of the screaming viewers (from their “bird’s nest”). This is ironic, for “Nation’s Pride” is about Frederick Zoller’s success in killing many men from a bird’s nest of his own (in his case, a tall tower). The only light in the section comes from the bright red flames bursting from the movie screen. In a particular slow motion shot of Donowitz shooting the helpless viewers, the eyes on his red face show no mercy, only brutality. This is the same for when he shoots the fallen corpse of Hitler. All in all, I believe “The Bear Jew” to be the most fascinating character of all. His humorous personality and his merciless attitude make him one of the most multi-dimensional characters in the film.