Brad Pitt: American Jewish Hillbilly
By Olivia Wiznitzer
He’s been a casino hound, a secret agent and a brawny Greek warrior, but now Brad Pitt can add a completely new role to his repertoire: a Jewish hillbilly from Tennessee.
Pitt has signed on to play Aldo, aka “Aldo the Apache,” in Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming World War II film, “Inglorious Bastards,” about a handpicked group of American-Jewish soldiers who kill Nazis in brutal and violent ways in order to undermine the Third Reich. Pitt’s character’s has “the Apache” as a nickname because of his signature move of scalping Nazi soldiers.
According to Entertainment Weekly, the film features “vintage Tarantino moments,” such as “the director’s now-classic use of the Mexican standoff, in which multiple characters are at an impasse pointing guns at each other.” While the screenplay is not perfect, “even the mistakes are entertaining,” said one insider who read the script.
The cast also includes Simon Pegg, Eli Roth and B.J. Novak. Rumor has it that Tarantino is in talks with David Krumholtz and German actress Nastassja Kinski. The movie is mostly in French and German, with subtitles, but Pitt will perform his role in English. The film is slated for release in June 2009.
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Brad Pitt by his statements that pertain to Israel has indicated a deep-seated dislike for that nation and even in some instances of the U. S. I would imagine that considering his views that he will paint Jews as the perpetrators and the Nazi as innocent victims.
The movie is not original, but based on a 1977 movie. Also, it appears to be a typical bloodthirsty Tarantino creation (like Kill Bill).
I live in neighboring NC and I take issue with Olivia Wiznitzer's disparaging description of Pitt's role--a Jewish hillbilly. That totally buys into the (mostly northeast's) stereotype of people in the south and that it is so --yuk yuk--funny that there would be Jews here. Get yer history straight (more Jews in Charleston in 1700 than in NYC--read the seminal work on Jews in south--The Provincials, by Eli Evans). And realize that "hillbilly" is a disparaging word. One of my friends (who was named by US News and World Report in 2000 as one of its top ten visionaries in the US for her work in community development) has stated that white people in the south are the only ones who don't have an anti-defamation league. And that if they did, the word "hillbilly" would be considered hate speech.
To the Editor, Mr. Tarentino has reinented the wheel is some ways. I recall watching an Israeli television documentary that revealed one of the activities of the Jewish Prigade, the "Palestinians" who fought on the Italian front towards the end of the War, who send squads to do to German commanders and others who were responsible for the Shoah "what they did to the Jews". It wasn't nice, and it wasn't legal, or part of the task the Allies intended for them, either. It's nice to know that maybe somebody else was thinking along those lines, even if it is on the silver screen. Zev Davis Natzrat 'Illit, ISRAEL
Is this film based on an actual incident or is it pure fiction? If fiction that it is disgusting as it will play into the "Jew as Shylock" legend. I hope someone talks sense into Tarantino!
I didn't see the movie but I read a number of reviews and I understand that Tarantino makes Jews look like brutal killers and Nazis look like victim. This is Holocaust denial at its worst.
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