US film study
Inglorious Basterds and Miracle at St.Anna are the two movies that have been selected for out American film case studies. This is because they are two very similar movies by two very different directors. For example, they're both set in Europe during World War 2 and both tackle the themes of racism, crime, war, death, family, and vengeance. However the directors are very different and have butted heads on more than a few occasions. This is due to their opposing approaches to similar topics. Spike Lee, director of Miracle at St.Anna, has a reputation of making very emotional and deep cutting movies that show the seriousness of such topics like racism with primarily black casts. Quentin Tarantino, director of Inglorious Basterds, on the other hand loves taking a very casual and at times humorous approach to similar topics which often stirs up controversy. For example on the topic of racism, Miracle at St.Anna had a general who dismissed the lives of his soldiers simply because they were black and it was a disposable, experimental squadron. This was a horrible and brutally honest view on how black people were seen during the war. Inglorious Basterds however used comedic accents in a scene where some of the characters were meant to be infiltrating a nazi-protected cinema. The contrast of serious and casual is vastly different and this has always been the case between Spike Lee and Quentin Tarantino.
Exploring the similarities more, both films also have multi-protagonists. Inglorious Basterds followed a group of Jewish soldiers looking to end World War 2 by killing Nazi leaders. Their goals coincidentally coincided with a theater owner who's family was all killed by a Nazi general. Miracle at St.Anna followed four soldiers who's entire squadron was killed and while searching for a way back to their base, discover an injured and sick child. This leads to both films having very many perspectives. Like Inglorious Basterds and the fate of each individual member of the Basterds and their allies. Speaking of which, many of the protagonists of Miracle at St.Anna also met gruesome fates which is another similarity of both films. Both were protagonist-death heavy. Miracle at St.Anna only left two protagonists alive, as did Inglorious Basterds. As you can see, simply both having multi-protagonists led to many coincidental duplicate features.
Delving into the differences once again, I'm going to cover the variations in plot. Inglorious Basterds was not very historically accurate as it covered the planned mass murder of dozens of Nazi's including Hitler and many of his closest, high ranked associates. As Hitler died from suicide in reality, we can see that Tarantino was not as interested in staying true to real life. Yet Miracle at St.Anna was based on a novel by the same name which took inspiration from a real life massacre that occurred called the Sant'Anna di Stazzema massacre. This is the story of a group of Italian rebels who are taking refuge in a small village. The Nazi's try to find said rebels but when nobody in the town gives them up, the Nazi's slaughter many innocent men, women and children. This was an operation against the Italian resistance that led to the deaths of over 500 people and 130 children. The bodies were burned afterwards. What's left of the military squadron then arrives at this village with the sick boy and are left to fight off another assault from the Nazi's, ending with the deaths of 3 out of 4 of the soldiers and the sick child managing to survive. The reason the Nazi assaulted the village was due to one of the Italian rebels defecting to the Nazi's and once the surviving soldier from the assault saw him again decades later, he killed him. I'm not sure whether the truth extends that far but it shows that Inglorious Basterds is a lot more fictional than Miracle at St.Anna with it's plot.
Another difference is the settings. As I've already mentioned, Miracle at St.Anna takes place in war torn Italy. This leads to the mise-en-scene being quite different as the styles of the people, the landmarks and the landscape all differ as Inglorious Basterds is set in Paris, France. For example, Paris was and still is a very popular capital of the world and so is a lot more advanced with a lot less greenery than a small village in Italy. Miracle at St.Anna had several large hills, cobblestone archways and old European wear, meanwhile Inglorious Basterds had lots of wide streets with familiar landmarks such as the Eiffel tower and more sophisticated rich wear of the high ranking Nazi officials. It'd be strange if a village of the Italian resistance with not much access to the outside world who are living nearly in poverty under the Nazi had lavish, superfluous wear.
Exploring the similarities more, both films also have multi-protagonists. Inglorious Basterds followed a group of Jewish soldiers looking to end World War 2 by killing Nazi leaders. Their goals coincidentally coincided with a theater owner who's family was all killed by a Nazi general. Miracle at St.Anna followed four soldiers who's entire squadron was killed and while searching for a way back to their base, discover an injured and sick child. This leads to both films having very many perspectives. Like Inglorious Basterds and the fate of each individual member of the Basterds and their allies. Speaking of which, many of the protagonists of Miracle at St.Anna also met gruesome fates which is another similarity of both films. Both were protagonist-death heavy. Miracle at St.Anna only left two protagonists alive, as did Inglorious Basterds. As you can see, simply both having multi-protagonists led to many coincidental duplicate features.
Delving into the differences once again, I'm going to cover the variations in plot. Inglorious Basterds was not very historically accurate as it covered the planned mass murder of dozens of Nazi's including Hitler and many of his closest, high ranked associates. As Hitler died from suicide in reality, we can see that Tarantino was not as interested in staying true to real life. Yet Miracle at St.Anna was based on a novel by the same name which took inspiration from a real life massacre that occurred called the Sant'Anna di Stazzema massacre. This is the story of a group of Italian rebels who are taking refuge in a small village. The Nazi's try to find said rebels but when nobody in the town gives them up, the Nazi's slaughter many innocent men, women and children. This was an operation against the Italian resistance that led to the deaths of over 500 people and 130 children. The bodies were burned afterwards. What's left of the military squadron then arrives at this village with the sick boy and are left to fight off another assault from the Nazi's, ending with the deaths of 3 out of 4 of the soldiers and the sick child managing to survive. The reason the Nazi assaulted the village was due to one of the Italian rebels defecting to the Nazi's and once the surviving soldier from the assault saw him again decades later, he killed him. I'm not sure whether the truth extends that far but it shows that Inglorious Basterds is a lot more fictional than Miracle at St.Anna with it's plot.
Another difference is the settings. As I've already mentioned, Miracle at St.Anna takes place in war torn Italy. This leads to the mise-en-scene being quite different as the styles of the people, the landmarks and the landscape all differ as Inglorious Basterds is set in Paris, France. For example, Paris was and still is a very popular capital of the world and so is a lot more advanced with a lot less greenery than a small village in Italy. Miracle at St.Anna had several large hills, cobblestone archways and old European wear, meanwhile Inglorious Basterds had lots of wide streets with familiar landmarks such as the Eiffel tower and more sophisticated rich wear of the high ranking Nazi officials. It'd be strange if a village of the Italian resistance with not much access to the outside world who are living nearly in poverty under the Nazi had lavish, superfluous wear.
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