My favorite character in Inglourious Basterds is Colonel Hans Landa. Played by Christoph Waltz (who won an Oscar for this portrayal), Landa is the perfect image of a Nazi officer; he is cunningly manipulative, determined, amoral, and he hates Jews for no apparent reason. Landa is not a typical villain, however. He deceives people by tricking them with smiles and friendly behavior so that they let their guard down and give him what he wants. Initially, Landa seems to be very genuine, happy person, but Tarantino masterfully uses the camera to show that Landa is, in fact, someone no other character wants to be acquainted with.
The opening scene in which Landa comes to Pierre LaPadite’s home shows the villain in all his evil. First, Landa is the dominant contrast in every shot he is in; not once is he a filler in the background. He is either positioned in the center of the frame or in the foreground. At the rare times he is not in either of these positions he is talking, which draws the audience’s attention just as much as if he were in the middle of the frame. Not only is he the dominant contrast, showing his power in the situation, but he is also almost always apart from all the other characters; the closest he gets to any character is at a public proxemic and only when he shakes LaPadite’s does he break this barrier. This distance from all the characters in this scene shows how everyone is perverse to him and does not want to be too close. Landa’s costume design also shows his evil villainess character. The very first time he appears on screen he is wearing a long, black over coat, which invokes the image of the Grim Reaper’s black robe and hood. Immediately the audience is made aware that Landa is the villain of the film.
Landa is not my favorite character because I agree with his views or appreciate what he is trying to accomplish. I enjoy watching him because he really invokes fear and indignation from me with his manipulative power and his truly amoral nature. He can read and control people so easily that it is almost frightening, and I commend Waltz in his ability to portray such an evil character so successfully.
The very first scene in the movie reveals how Pierre La Padite feels about him. He is happy in his power, but he doesn't create happiness around himself. There are very few public character proxemics, except in the opening when HL is walking towards the farmer. Rather, most of the character proxemics are social. Look up the difference.
ReplyDelete