In the shadowed corners of 1941 France, Austrian SS-Standartenführer Hans Landa arrives at a quaint dairy farm, where he confronts the visibly shaken Perrier LaPadite. With chilling charm, Landa, known ominously as “The Jew Hunter,” probes LaPadite about the whereabouts of the Dreyfus family, Jewish fugitives rumored to be hiding nearby. Landa’s menacing persuasion breaks LaPadite’s resolve, and he tearfully confesses that the Dreyfuses are concealed beneath his floorboards. Without hesitation, Landa orders his soldiers to execute them. Amid the chaos, young Shosanna Dreyfus flees into the woods, escaping the slaughter.
Three years later, U.S. Army Lieutenant Aldo Raine assembles a ruthless team of Jewish-American soldiers for a covert mission in Nazi-occupied France. Dubbed the “Basterds,” their sole purpose is to terrorize the enemy through brutal killings and scalpings. The unit includes fearsome Sergeant Donny “The Bear Jew” Donowitz, sharpshooter Smithson Utivich, explosives expert Omar Ulmer, former German soldier Hugo Stiglitz, and translator Corporal Wilhelm Wicki. In Germany, Adolf Hitler listens in rage as a captured German soldier recounts how Raine carved a swastika into his forehead after annihilating his unit. This macabre signature ensures no Nazi will escape their crimes unmarked.
In Paris, Shosanna, now living under the alias Emmanuelle Mimieux, manages a modest cinema. Her path crosses with Fredrick Zoller, a celebrated German sniper and war hero, who is infatuated with her. Zoller persuades propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels to premiere “Stolz der Nation” (“Nation’s Pride”), a film glorifying his exploits, at her venue. As preparations unfold, Shosanna endures an unsettling interrogation by Landa, now head of security for the event. While he offers no indication of recognizing her, his presence reignites her smoldering desire for vengeance. Together with Marcel, her Afro-French lover and projectionist, she devises a plan to burn the theater to the ground using nitrate film reels, a highly flammable arsenal.
Simultaneously, Operation Kino, a British-American scheme to assassinate Nazi leaders during the premiere, takes shape. Lieutenant Archie Hicox, a suave British film critic turned commando, is recruited to lead the mission. Fluent in German, Hicox teams up with the Basterds and meets undercover agent Bridget von Hammersmark, a glamorous German actress, in a small tavern in occupied France. Disguised as German officers, they gather intel, but Hicox’s odd accent arouses the suspicions of Major Dieter Hellström. A tense exchange culminates in a violent shootout, leaving everyone dead except for von Hammersmark and a German soldier named Wilhelm, who briefly negotiates his surrender before von Hammersmark shoots him.
Raine arrives to extract von Hammersmark, but her injuries and the chaotic encounter cast doubt on her loyalty. She insists on her allegiance, revealing that Hitler himself will attend the premiere. This revelation shifts the mission’s stakes. To infiltrate the event, Raine, Donowitz, and Ulmer pose as Italian filmmakers, relying on the Nazis’ limited knowledge of the language. Meanwhile, Landa investigates the tavern and discovers von Hammersmark’s incriminating signature on a napkin, along with her shoe, setting the stage for a fateful confrontation.
At the premiere, the tension escalates as Landa’s fluency in Italian exposes the Basterds’ flimsy cover. Cornering von Hammersmark, he mocks her before strangling her to death. Raine and Utivich are captured, while Donowitz and Ulmer remain undetected inside the theater. Sensing an opportunity, Landa bargains with Raine, offering to let the attack proceed in exchange for personal immunity and safe passage to Allied territory. Raine reluctantly agrees, securing Landa’s cooperation.
Inside the cinema, the premiere unfolds with grandiosity. Zoller, emboldened by his fame, makes advances toward Shosanna in the projection booth. Their encounter spirals into violence, ending with both shooting each other fatally. As the propaganda film’s climax plays, Shosanna’s recorded message interrupts, her face filling the screen as she declares the Nazi audience’s impending doom. Marcel, stationed behind the scenes, ignites the nitrate films with his cigarette, engulfing the theater in flames. The inferno consumes the building as Ulmer and Donowitz burst into Hitler’s opera box, raining gunfire on the dictator and Goebbels before detonating their explosives, killing everyone inside.
Outside the burning theater, Landa drives Raine and Utivich into Allied-controlled territory, smugly anticipating the rewards of his betrayal. However, Raine’s disdain for Landa’s treachery proves stronger than their agreement. After casually shooting Landa’s radio operator, Raine disregards the deal’s terms. Together with Utivich, he carves a swastika into Landa’s forehead, leaving him marked forever as a Nazi.
As Landa screams in fury, Raine admires his handiwork, dubbing the scarred emblem his “masterpiece,” a final stroke in the chaotic canvas of vengeance and justice.
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