The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, after Ehud died. So the LORD sold them into the hand of King Jabin of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Ha-rosheth-ha-goiim. Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD for help; for he had nine hundred chariots of iron, and had oppressed the Israelites cruelly for twenty years.
Read all of Judges 4: http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=judges+4
I have my doubts whether or not Tarantino is familiar with the book of Judges, but I keep thinking of Inglourious Basterds in the light of Judges.
Jael is in a long line of women warriors, beginning with Eve and ending with Mary and the Church.
Back at the beginning, after Adam’s failure to exercise dominion and Eve’s failure to be as wise as a serpent, God confronts all the guilty persons; Adam, Eve, Serpent.
Specifically speaking to the Serpent:
“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”
Peterson’s translation makes it clear: “I’m declaring war between you and the Woman, between your offspring and hers. He’ll wound your head, you’ll wound his heel.”
Theologians refer to the above passage as the proto-evangelion. An early Gospel promise.
There is enmity at work here. There is war. I don’t have the time or inclination to go into all of the biblical patterns that follow, but trust me that, over and over again, throughout the rest of the bible, there is a war between the woman and the serpent and the woman’s seed and the serpent’s seed, culminating in the victory of Jesus.
Jael’s story in Judges is one clear war story along the way. The story literalizes the wounding of the head that the Serpent’s offspring experience. Things don't always have to be this obvious and literal, but an actual, factual skull-crushing will work every time to illustrate Genesis 3:15.
This is all well and good, but what does it have to do with Inglourious Basterds?
I don’t know.
There’s a war going on.
I keep thinking of Shosanna as a Jael figure. An enemy of her people is seeking refuge in her house (cinema in this case). The enemy asks for water and she gives them milk (not literally in this case, but it’s interesting that Tarantino repeatedly brings up milk), refusing them nothing in the premiere of their movie. Meanwhile, Shosanna bides her time until the enemy that she is at war with feels safe and she can drive the tent-peg into his temple. The Nazis, like Sisera, feel safe, because they don’t realize where Shosanna’s loyalties lie or what her family background is. It’s also interesting that while Jael is giving the death blow to the enemy in her tent, Barak and his army are continuing to hunt down Sisera while they exterminate the rest of his army. “All the army of Sisera fell by the sword; no one was left.“ There’s no mention of scalping (also no foreskins involved this time!) but this is indeed total war. There are parallels between Barak’s army and the Basterds hunting down Nazis while Shosanna is independently aiding the cause.
The difference here is that Barak and Jael were acting as agents of God’s vengeance. It isn’t too hard, though, to imagine these folks taking delight in the destruction of their oppressors (just read Judges 5).
There are parallels, but Shosanna is clearly acting primarily as an agent of personal vengeance and the Basterds just revel in the violence a little too much. One gets the idea that a few of these Basterds would enjoy hurting just about anyone. Nazis are convenient. Still, there’s a clear Antithesis at work in the film that echoes biblical themes. Even the marking of foreheads has a biblical connotation. I’m pretty sure that Tarantino might find all this nuts, but the text of the film stands apart from its author and engages with this specific viewer, producing the above thoughts.
I continue to think more highly of Basterds as I’ve been meditating on it more over the past 10 days. I do need to see it again.
(p.s. The painting that opens this post is by a man named Tony Nsofor. It's a great painting. I have to admit, though, that I only found it when searching for images for this post. Read more about Nsofor by clicking on the painting above.)
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