Chapter Five

Fifth and final chapter.

Chapter Five (full name Chapter Five - REVENGE OF THE GIANT FACE) is the final chapter in the film.

Summary

At the Stolz der Nation film premiere, Operation Kino and Shosanna's revenge plan are about to come to fruition. At the same time, Col. Hans Landa has his own plans.

Synopsis

It's the night of the premiere of Stolz der Nation (Nation's pride) in Paris, at the Le Gamaar Cinema. Shosanna prepares to join the festivity. In a series of flashbacks we see her plan, which involves recording herself, forcing a shady filmmaker to develop their camera film to a 35 mm video with soundtrack to insert it in the Stolz der Nation film reel. Shosanna applies make-up, packs a small pistol in her purse, in the event of trouble and dons a black fishnet hat. She then takes her purse and goes to the cinema lobby ledge, watching the Nazi crowd gathering. We see that Hermann Göring has also arrived. Downwards, Joseph Goebbels is showing to Frederick Zoller the Honour Ring of German Films that he gave to Emil Jannings, saying that Frederick Zoller could be the next one to receive it. Shosanna sees the trio and climbs down the stairs towards them, where Zoller introduces Shosanna to Emil Jannings, calling him the greatest actor in the world.

Upwards on the ledge, Col. Hans Landa stands too, looking at the crowd, with a glass of champagne, and sees the Basterds group. He climbs down the stairs and goes to meet them. He first greets Bridget von Hammersmark, whom she hasn't seen in ages. He notices her foot cast, and asks her what happened, jokingly asking if it's a product of kicking the ass of the film industry. Trying to make a convincing tale, Hammersmark says that she foolishly tried mountain climbing, and this was the result. The story is so lame and absurd, Landa can't help but bursting into one of the most over the top laughs, which makes Hammersmark and the Basterds visibly uncomfortable. Handa excuses himself, and apologizes, asking Bridget when and where did the unfortunate event happen, which catches Bridget off guard, as there are no mountains near Paris, but he interrupts her saying he was just joking, he likes to tease rough people. Afterwards, he asks Bridget who are her escort. Bridget introduces the men to Landa, by calling Aldo Raine a famous Italian stuntsman, Enzo Gorlomi, Donny Donowitz as the Italian director Antonio Marghereti and Omar Ulmer as Antonio's camera assistant Dominick DeCocco. Raine promptly greets Landa in badly-accented Italian. Unexpectedly, Landa takes everybody by surprise by speaking flawless Italian to the Basterds party. Landa further embarrasses them by asking each Basterd to pronounce their fake name in their broken Italian. Bridget von Hammersmark then tried to get away from Landa by saying that they need to find their seats, but Landa stops them, and sends Donny and Omar to the cinema auditorium, while withholding Aldo and Bridget in the lobby. Donny and Omar look in the opera boxes of the cinema, and see Goebbels and Francesca in one, and Göring, Bormann and Emil Jannings in the other, but no signs of the big man. When they reach their row, they discover that it's in the middle of the seats, and after an awkward stare at each other, they squeeze between the Nazi crowd, while excusing themselves in Italian.

In the projector room, Marcel is spinning the 4th film reel, when Shosanna arrives to see the status of their plan. They go again over the steps, During the third reel Marcel will go and close the auditorium doors, Shosanna's film will play during the fourth reel, during which Marcel will be behind the scenes, and when she gives him the signal, he will lit the cinema on fire. Inside the auditorium, Donny and Omar have armed their bombs and are waiting in their seats for the film to start.

Shortly before, the cinema ushers announce the crowd that the film is about to begin and ask them to take their seats. Bridget tries once again to go with Aldo in the cinema auditorium, but Landa stops them yet again, and offers each a glass of champagne, and they toast for the film. Landa then asks Bridget to come with him, and leaves Aldo alone in the lobby. Landa takes her in Shosanna's office, now his office, where he takes off his coat from the hanger and places it on Bridget's chair, before sitting on a chair in front of her. He asks her to place her right foot, the one without cast, on his left knee, but this makes Bridget uncomfortable and refuses. Landa however, insists with a finger gesture, and Bridget complies. Landa then takes off her shoe and asks Bridget to search in his right pocket and hand him whatever she finds there. Bridget searched through the pocked and is in awe when she finds that it's her lost shoe from the Nadine tavern. Landa asks her to hand him her shoe, which she does. Landa places the shoe on Bridget's foot, claiming that "if the shoe fits, you must wear it". On the verge of tears, Bridget asks him what happens now. Landa then lunges at her, and strangles her to death. He then calmly orders Aldo be arrested. Immediately the cinema security knocks Aldo on the ground, places a black bag over his head, confiscates his knife and bomb and cuff him. He's dragged outside the cinema, all while shouting and swearing at the guards. One of the ushers brings Landa Aldo's bomb and knife, with the colonel complementing Aldo's bomb with a "clever" in an Italian accent. Landa then goes to Goebbels balcony and tells him that Hitler will arrive shortly. Outside Aldo keeps shouting profanities at the Nazis, until Landa arrives and tells Aldo that he's now in his hands. Landa then playfully pokes his face through the black bag with his index finger, only for Aldo to headbutt him in return. Landa then orders his men to put Aldo in the truck, which drives off, away from the cinema.

The truck arrives at a tavern in a remote location. Landa's men get Aldo and Utivich out of the truck and take them inside the tavern, and force them to seat at a table, before removing their head bags. On the other side of the table is Hans Landa, who tells them though a metaphor about shoes and feet that they're now at his mercy. Landa tells his men to leave the room, but stand close. Landa and Aldo then call each others nicknames, though the former resents his nickname, "The Jew Hunter", as he considers himself "a damn good detective", and his specialty is finding people, and in this case he lent his skills to the Nazis in finding Jews, but that name doesn't represent him as a person, just a name that stuck. Utivich points out that the nickname is pretty catchy, to which Landa points out that the nickname the Germans have given to Utivich, "The Little Man" is not very accurate, as while he's not tall, he's also not small. Aldo interrupts the discussion and demands to know where are his men and Bridget von Hammersmark. Landa then tells him that "she got what she deserved", while Donny and Omar are still in their seats and Operation Kino is still ongoing. Aldo is not very convinced that things go as he says. Landa then says that all he has to do is pick up the phone and call the cinema, which will end their little operation. Aldo then points out that even if they manage to get their hands on Donny and Omar, there's no way they won't set off the bombs. Landa agrees, but says that even if that happens, which is most likely, they will only kill some people, and Hitler, Goebbels, Göring and Bormann will escape. He then points out that they will have to kill all of these four in order to end the war. Landa then makes a proposition: he will allow Operation Kino to fulfill its goal, and in exchange he wants to make a deal. However, since the two basterds cannot veto such a deal, Landa asks Aldo to contact his superiors, in this case the OSS, via a two-way radio from the other room. Aldo is skeptical of this proposition, as his bootlegging past has taught him that if there's "a story too good to be true, it ain't". Landa agrees with him, saying he would say the same, but points out that this is a chance in a million, like the fate reaching out to them. This has Aldo and Utivich thinking.

Inside the cinema, the crowd watches the film, where we see Zoller killing waves after waves of Allied soldiers. Donny leaves his place and climbs up to the opera box level, to see if Hitler has arrived. Soon enough, he sees the Führer himself stepping out of the opera box and asking the guard for some chewing gum. Pleased, Donny returns to the auditorium and calls Omar, who doesn't understand at first what Donny wants. At the latter's insistence, Omar finally get out of the seats, albeit with difficulty and the duo go to the upper level with the opera box. In the projector room, Marcel kisses Shosanna one last time, before leaving to do his job. He takes two metal bars from the attic, then climbs down in the lobby. He locks the small doors and and uses the metal bars to block the main auditorium doors. Meanwhile, Shosanna loads the last film reel in the second projector. After finishing, Marcel goes in the backstage, where there's a massive nitrate film bundle. He sits near the bundle, smoking a cigarette, and waits for Shosanna's signal.

On the other side of Paris, Hans Landa enumerates his demands to an OSS officer on the radio, as follows: he was was part of Operation Kino from the very beginning as a double agent, any action that he's done as an SS Colonel was sanctioned by the OSS as a necessary evil to establish his cover with the Germans, it was his placement of Aldo Raine's bomb in Hitler and Goebbels' opera box that assured their demise (which is actually true), full military pension and benefits under his proper rank, the Congressional Medal of Honor (along with all the members of Operation Kino), full American citizenship, and last but not least property on Nantucket Island for his retirement. After the OSS officer agrees with his demands, he asks to speak with Aldo. The OSS commander orders Aldo to have him and Utivich placed in a truck as prisoners and have Landa and his man drive until the Allied lines. There, they will switch sides, with Landa and his man surrendering to him, while Aldo and Utivich will drive the truck until the commander's base for debriefing. Aldo acknowledges the orders, and the officer ends the transmission.

Inside the cinema, the film continues. While everyone seems to enjoy the action, Zoller doesn't share the same feeling, and instead asks Goebbels if he can leave. Goebbels agrees, and Zoller goes to see Shosanna. During this time, Shosanna has switched the last film reel and is waiting for the final act. Zoller arrives to the projector room and knocks on the door. Shosanna is angered by this unwanted visit, but keeps her calm. Zoller begins to engage in a friendly discussion, making jokes, but Shosanna's frustration keeps increasing until she can't take it no more and tells him to leave. This angers Zoller, who in a fit of rage slams the door open, hitting Shosanna in her arm. He explodes in rage over her rejecting his advances, saying that after all that he did for her she still ignores him. Trying to distract him, Shosanna tells Zoller to close the door quickly, but he gets confused, as he doesn't understand what she wants. After a small talk, he slowly goes towards the door to close it, while Shosanna goes for the gun in her bag, and shoots him 3 times in the back. She then rushes to the window, but no one heard the shots due to the gunshots from the film. As she looks at him in the film, she starts to feel some regret over her action, but then she hears him growling on the floor, dying. She goes near him, wanting to see his injuries, but he then turns and shoots her dead with his gun, and they both die on the projector room floor.

In the cinema bathroom, Donny and Omar both gear up to kill the guards. Donny disguises himself as a waiter, sort of, and both him and Omar pack glove pistols to use against the guards. Donny manages to distract one of the guards with a glass of water as glass of champagne, and shoots him in the head with his gun. Omar then sprints from around the corner and shoots dead the other guard in the stomach. Inside the auditorium the crowd is cheering for Zoller killing Allied soldiers. Hitler praises Goebbels' film, calling it his best. This greatly pleases Goebbels, who cannot hold his tears anymore and starts weeping, and Francesca tries to support him. As movie Zoller says the final line, Shosanna appears on the video, telling the crowd in English that they're all going to die. As the crowd gets confused, Shosanna tells Marcel to ignite the nitrate film, which he does. The entire screen rapidly ignites, and presumably Marcel as well. As the fire rapidly engulfs the auditorium and the crowd try to run, Donny and Omar burst in the room and gun down Hitler and Goebbels with the guards MP40s , while Omar guns down Francesca as well. As the crowd tries to escape the auditorium, only to hit against the locked doors, Shosanna mocks and laughs at the dying Nazis from the auditorium. Donny and Omar shoot at the crowd below, to stop them from escaping. Donny manages to empty his last clip in Hitler's face, before the bombs countdown reach zero and explode, destroying the entire cinema, and killing everybody inside.

On way to Allied lines, Landa is sen in the truck, admiring Aldo's knife. The truck stops shortly, and the driver, the former radio operator tells Landa that they've reached the American lines. Landa and his man take Aldo and Utivich from the back of the truck and uncuffs them. Landa hands Aldo his gun, as well as his SS dagger, telling him that he's their prisoner. After getting his knife back, Aldo tells Utivich to cuff the colonel, saying that he's "slave to appearances", implying that he wants to bring Landa to the Americans as prisoner. However, Aldo shoots the driver with Landa's pistol and gives the SS dagger to Utivich, telling him to scalp the man. Landa is shocked and horrified at this turn of events, claiming that he made a deal for that man's life, but Aldo rebuffs him telling him that the deal was for the SS colonel, not for the driver. When Landa shouts at him that he's gonna be executed for this, Aldo says that he's most likely gonna get chewed out. Again. As Utivich scalps the dead German, Aldo praises Landa's deal, saying that it's a "damn good deal", with Utivich sheepishly agreeing. But he does have one concern: that while on Nantucket Island, Landa will not be wearing his Nazi SS uniform, and therefor nobody will know he was a Nazi, and he doesn't like that. Neither does Utivich. So Aldo, decides to give Landa something that he can't take off, namely a swastika scar on his forehead, all while Landa cries in horror. After finishing the swastika, Aldo tells Utivich that this one could be his masterpiece.

Memorable quotes

• Buongiorno! (Aldo Raine)
• Arrivederci! (Aldo Raine)
• Ooh la la, Danielle Darrieux. (Marcel)
• What's that American expression? "If the shoe fits, you must wear it." (Hans Landa)
• Looks like the shoe is on the other foot. (Aldo Raine)
• That's a pretty exciting story. What's next? Eliza on Ice? (Aldo Raine)
• Ooooooooooh! That's a bingo! (Hans Landa)
• Bingo! How fun! (Hans Landa)
• Long story short, we hear a story too good to be true, it ain't. (Aldo Raine)
• I'm a slave to appearances (Aldo Raine)
• Damn good deal. (Aldo Raine)
• You know something, Utivich? I think this just might be my masterpiece. (Aldo Raine)

Trivia

• When Shosanna looks outside through the round window, a poster with the fake film "Fräulein Doktor" is seen, starring Bridget von Hammersmark.
• When Shosanna heads for the lobby of the cinema after she prepared herself, the camera follows her from above. The same technique was used in Kill Bill Vol. 1, when the Bride follows Sofie Fatale in the toilet of the House Of Blue Leaves.
• When Landa is talking to Bridget about her broken leg, the camera moves around the two actors in a circular fashion. The same technique was used several times in the previous films.
• The cigarettes sold by the girls during the premiere are never framed well, but based on the colors of the packages brands seem to be (from right to left): Harz, Deutscher Geist and Alpin. The "Overstolz" (existing brand) appear to be those smoked by Marcel.
• The matches sold by the girls at the premiere are the "Front Holzer".
• The three girls getting an autograph from Zoller in the cinema wear the distinctive brown jackets of the Bund Deutscher Mädel (BDM), the girls branch of the Hitler Youth.
• The large Nazi eagle displayed in the cinema lobby is based on a bronze eagle that was in the Reichs Chancellery in Berlin, by Kurt Schmid-Ehmen. The original Berlin eagle is now in the US Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio.
• In the scene where Bridget von Hammersmark was choked to death after being discovered as a spy, Diane Kruger was almost accidentally really choked. Quentin Tarantino was unimpressed with choking scenes in other movies, in that actors are rarely in any considerable danger while shooting them, and convinced Kruger to be strangled for real in order to get the scene just right. Fearing that actor Christoph Waltz would choke her too much or too little, Tarantino decided to literally take matters into his own hands and did the scene himself. In an interview, Tarantino said, "What I said to her was, I'm gonna just strangle you, alright? Full on, I'm gonna cut off your air, for just a little bit of time. We're gonna see the reaction in your face and I'm gonna yell cut." Kruger decided this was reasonable and let Tarantino sit on top of her and choke her to the point of unconsciousness. Fortunately for Kruger, the shot was accomplished in one take.
• During the conversation with Landa, Aldo says sarcastically: "What's next, Eliza on the Ice?". Eliza on the Ice is the title of a short animated film starring the superhero Mighty Mouse mouse, which is a sort of parody to the novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin", that was banned due to the high content of stereotypes about African Americans.
• Landa proposes to Aldo and Utivich to toast him with a glass of Chianti.
• During the conversation with Landa, Aldo tells him he used to "bootleg moonshine liquor" (What we call 'just a man tryin' to make a livin' for his family sellin' moonshine liquor). "Moonshine" is the name given to illegally homemade whiskey/high-proof distilled spirits. Its name comes from the fact that during Prohibition, the liquors were sold or smuggled only at night to avoid being detected by the authorities, hence the word "moon".
• When Donny goes to see if Hitler has arrived, we see the sentry that will be later shot by Omar, and other one with shorter hair. However, when Zoller leaves the opera box, the other guard gets replaced by a bald man. It's unknown how he got replaced, considering that moments after Donny goes back in the auditorium to call Omar with him, Marcel locks the cinema and it's unlikely that he could of done that if the sentries would wander around.
• When Fredrich leaves the opera box during the film premiere to go to the projection booth, he walks out of the box and turns to the left. Since he was on the right-hand side of the theater, this would mean he was heading in the direction of the screen/backstage and away from the booth. A few moments later, we see him walk up a flight of stairs where drape hangs off to the left and a masonry wall stands to the right, with the stairs opening to a set of catwalks to the left. The only area this would make sense is in the backstage area of the theater, again opposite the projection booth. Once he does make it to the booth, he arrives at the door on the right side, the same side as the opera box he was in is on. The turn to the left and walk up the flight of stairs makes no sense.
• When Shosanna's film overrides the ending "Nation's Pride", the audience members are stunned in front of the gigantic face of the girl who appears in the middle of the film without any logical reason.  This scene is very reminiscent of the moments which "Big Brother" made ​​its appearance in the movie 1984 by Michael Radford, based on the novel "1984" by George Orwell. It's also similar to the first appearance of the Wizard Oz in the 1939 movie.
• Shosanna's face surrounded by smoke and flames (especially when she laughs in a "diabolical" way and leaning her head back) would seem to also be inspired by the scene where Mary the robot, played by Brigitte Helm, is set on fire in the 1927 film Metropolis, one of the favorite movies of Hitler and Goebbels, as well as ancestor of all science fiction films.
• In a deleted scene, the director Enzo G. Castellari, who in the film plays the role of a Nazi general present at the premiere, shouts "Fire!" from the place where they are sitting in the front row, as soon as the movie screen catches fire.  This same line was spoken by the Italian director in his film  "The Inglorious Bastards" where he also participated in the guise of appearance. Even if the scene has been omitted, you can see Castellari in the lobby of the cinema, just before Aldo Raine converses with Landa in his "Italian". In addition, according to what is stated by the same Enzo G. Castellari in an interview, the false name of Aldo had to be Enzo Girolami Castellari's real name, but it was crippled Pitt making it "Gorlomi." The question on 'homage to the surname of Castellari is a bit' a mystery since the name specified in the script is just "Gorlomi" and not "Girolami."
• When Shosanna's cinema explodes, the man who is thrown out through the round window, has the same scream used by Stuntman Mike in one of the final scene of Death Proof.