The main theme of the film is revenge. The film is set in an alternate history of the Second World War in which the entire top leadership of Nazi Germany, including Hitler, attend a film premiere in Paris celebrating the exploits of a German sniper who had managed to kill 300 American soldiers in Italy. The very idea of celebration of killings may seem gruesome and invoke negative emotions in the knower.
The film tracks the separate attempts to kill Hitler by two disparate forces, one being the "Basterds", a motley crew of Jewish American soldiers out for revenge against the Nazis. The Basterds have a modus operandi whereby each man must cut off the scalp of a dead Nazi soldier, with orders to get 100 scalps each. The Basterds allow one German soldier to survive each incident so as to spread the news of the terror of their attacks. However, the Basterds carve a swastika into the forehead of that German.
The other force concerns Shosanna, the only survivor of a Jewish family killed by the Jew Hunter, who plots her own revenge on the Nazis. The reason for this plan is the extreme emotional turmoil experienced by her when her family was ruthlessly massacred by the “Jew Hunter” and she, as a teen, was forced to flee from the site.
The film opens in 1941 with Colonel Landa, proudly known as the "Jew Hunter", interrogating a French dairy farmer, over rumours that he had been hiding a Jewish family. The subtle comparison of Jews with rats, who are killed even though they do not do any harm is offensive and racist, and exposes the Nazi’s perspectives and way of thinking.
Four years later, by 1944, Shosanna has assumed the identity of "Emmanuelle Mimieux" the proprietress of a cinema, which is chosen to premiere the Nazi propaganda film, Stolz der Nation (English translation: A Nation's Pride). Shosanna realizes that the presence of so many high ranking Nazi officials and officers provides an excellent opportunity for revenge. She resolves to burn down her cinema using the massive quantities of flammable nitrate film in her storage rooms during the premiere and makes a fourth reel in which she tells the Nazis present of her Jewish identity and revenge.
In the meantime, the British, to fulfil their own political objectives, have also learned of the Nazi leadership's plan to attend the premiere and dispatch a British officer to Paris to lead an attack on the cinema with the aid of the "Basterds" led by Brad Pitt, and a German double agent (an actress).
Different languages and accents play an important role in the movie. When one of the German soldiers present strikes up a conversation with a British double agent and notices that his accent is "odd" gives the wrong three fingered order for whiskies (without using his thumb, a traditional German gesture), the SS officer realizes their deception. A firefight breaks out in which the British officer and two of the "Basterds" are killed as are the German soldiers in the tavern.
Brad Pitt’s character, commanding officer of the Basterds, interrogates Hammersmark, the actress who is acting as a double agent for the British, and decides to continue the operation against the cinema under the guise of Italians as suicide bombers. The “Jew Hunter” is able to retrieve one of Hammersmark's shoes from the scene of the firefight. He approaches Hammersmark and Brad Pitt in the cinema lobby and is able to easily see through their disguises, as none, even Brad Pitt, can speak any Italian or German. He questions Hammersmark alone and makes her try on the shoe he had retrieved from the tavern. It is a perfect fit. He violently strangles her to death as a traitor, and orders the arrest of Brad Pitt.
Later on, Landa (The Jew Hunter) reveals himself to be a turncoat. While speaking with Brad Pitt and Utivich, he tells them that four major Nazi leaders must all be killed to end the war immediately. They are all attending Nation's Pride, and he is prepared to let the assassination continue-- for a price. Landa (The Jew Hunter) has his radio operator help Brad Pitt reach his general, where Landa states the terms of his deal-- he wants full military pension and benefits under his current rank, a medal of honor for everyone involved in the operation, American citizenship and a home on an island. He also reveals that he had planted Brad Pitt's stick of dynamite in Hitler's box at the cinema, meaning that there are now three attempts against Hitler's life. Brad Pitt is placed on the radio and his general tells him that Landa and his radio operator will drive him in a truck to American lines, then surrender to them, whereupon Brad Pitt will drive the truck to base and bring Landa and the operator to him for debriefing.
Meanwhile, we see Hitler greatly enjoying the battle scene in the movie, where the Nazi soldier is taking out numerous American soldiers by himself. But his feeling of joy comes to a quick end when the fourth reel is played in which Shosanna tells the audience that they're all going to die, and she is a Jew ready to take revenge. On her cue, her assistant flicks his cigarette into the pile of nitrate film, igniting it. The fire bursts through the screen, causing a pandemonium in the auditorium. As the cinema is engulfed in flames, the dynamite that Landa had planted in Hitler's box, as well as the dynamite strapped to the Basterds' legs, now goes off. The cinema is destroyed in the subsequent inferno, killing all inside.
In spite of the movie being based on a serious, topic, invoking emotions such as fear and hatred and themes such as revenge, war and propaganda; the humour helps balance this and make it a pleasant watch for the viewer.
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