A Close up Look on the Bear Jew---Tarantino's Use of Shots

One of my recently favorite movies is “Inglourious Basterds” by Quentin Tarantino. There are two major components of the film that immediately stand out to me: 1) Tarantino’s genius manipulation of black comedy. I specifically recall people bursting out laughing in the movie theater in sespecially brutal scenes. There’s nothing funny about a person getting beat up with a baseball bat, yet Tarantino somehow makes people giggle at the first sign of violence. 2) Tarantino’s continuous use of meaningful camera angles and shots. Because he uses a myriad of shots and angles, the audience immediately is brought into the story. Tarantino makes good use of long, medium, close-up, low angle, and high angle shots, like the ones Professor Ramirez Berg talked about in his lecture. Each scene of “Inglourious Basterds” is encoded with subliminal significance through Tranatino’s meaningful use of shots, as it is evident in the following scene:

“Bear Jew” Scene from “Inglourious Basterds”

The scene I will dissect today is the famous “Bear Jew” scene. Eli Roth, playing the afore-mentioned Bear, comes out to kill a German Nazi officer with a baseball bat because the latter refuses to collaborate with the Basterds. Take a look:

LONG SHOT: (Min. 0:1:08-0:1:10)

This very brief long shot shows the place where the Basterds are “negotiating” with the German Nazi officer.  It is a crane shot where the setting is visible, in this case the woods, but the people themselves are not discernible from one another.

Possible meanings:

• The long shot is used as an establishing shot to show where the characters are located. This shot identifies the setting in its most basic sense: A secluded portion of the woods. It also shows how the characters are positioned in relation to one another

• The shot also implies complete isolation. This shot is especially relevant to the Nazi officer because it shows just how hopeless a situation he finds himself in. The long shot signifies how “far away from home” the Nazi officer is. There seems to be no one around to help him, and no civilization within reach to hear his cries of help and desperation (if he ever dared to cry out in the first place). He is isolated within a group of enemies and encompassing woods.

• The long shot also implies “spectacle”. The long shot allows the audience to see everything that’s going on as if in an omniscient point of view. It gives the shot a sort of “Roman Coliseum” look where the action is in the center of the frame, and the audience is all looking in. This shot is possibly Tarantino’s way of saying, “Look at what’s going on. Take it all in, and enjoy the show”. We get to view the scene from above momentarily, and thus we do not miss any details within it. This long shot relates to the Basterds within the scene as well, because the “Bear Jew’s” baseball bat-beat up is indeed a spectacle, a form of entertainment for the characters.

• The shot also possibly symbolizes emotional detachment within the Basterds, especially with the Bear Jew. As is evident in the scene, Donny feels no remorse at killing the Nazi officer. On the contrary, he enjoys it very much. The same goes for the rest of the Basterds; as it is evident from their cheering, laughing, and clapping, the rest of the Basterds feel nothing other than sheer joy at the sight of Donny’s performance.

• Lastly, the shot also serves as a sort of warning for the audience, one that encourages them to be emotionally detached as well. Since the whole film features black comedy, in which murders are supposed to be awkwardly hilarious, this long shot distances the audience from the violence just before it takes place. It is possible Tarantino’s way of saying, “Ok, detach yourself NOW because what’s coming is pretty gruesome”.

MEDIUM SHOT: (0:1:24-0:1:29)

My favorite medium shot within this scene is the one depicting the German officer’s upper body before the as he hears the Bear Jew approaching him. It is beautifully done since the character is positioned in the center, an artistically successful alteration of the rule of thirds, and the audience can identify the character being affected by the action, and his response to it.

Possible meanings:

• This medium shot points out which character is going to be directly affected by the action in the following frames. It shows the German officer by himself, squarely in the center of the shot.

• This shot also allows the audience to focus their attention on that specific character, since there aren’t any other people besides the officer in the frame. This is important because the Nazi officer is extremely important in this scene, as he is the vehicle to introduce the Bear Jew. Therefore, the audience must focus their attention to him and to what is going to happen to him

• This medium shot serves its “Information” purpose as it informs that the importance as of the scene has shifted from Brad Pitt (Aldo Raine) to the Nazi Officer.

• Also, while this shot does not contain any emotional context, it does include an impeding sense of doom. Since medium shots are usually followed by close-up shots (which do convey emotion), the audiences get a feeling of impatience and suspense as the medium shot lingers on the officer, taunting the audience by not shifting to a close-up right away

CLOSE-UP SHOT: (0:2:30-0:2:33)

This shot finally shows The Bear Jew after he’s come out of the tunnel. He confronts the Nazi officer, and a close-up is shown of both their faces.

Possible meanings:

• This close-up shot serves to communicate the most important part of the scene. It allows the audience to be brought “face to face” with the Bear Jew. It frames Donny, giving him a sense of omnipotence, glorifying him enough to be excused from the moral consequences of his actions.

• This close-up also frames the importance of the dialogue by closing in to Donny’s face. In the close-up he says, “Did you get that for killing Jews?” this is a very important piece of dialogue since it embodies what the Basterds are fighting for. They are avenging all the people, especially Jews, who were killed unfairly by the Nazis

• This shot also puts the audience in the perspective of the Nazi officer. We see the Bear Jew just as close as the officer does. The shot communicates a sense of confrontation to the audience. 
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• Like I mentioned before, this shot communicates emotion as it is evident in Donny's line. Since Donny himself is  a Jew, he delivers his line to the Jew-murdering Nazi with emotion. 

Professor Ramirez Berg also talked about high angle and low angle shots. Both of these can be seen in the close-up shots in the scene:

• HIGH ANGLE: The close up shot of the Nazi officer (hoplessness)
• LOW ANGLE: Close-up on Donny the Bear Jew (empowerment)

-Images from Google images.