“You haven’t seen war until you’ve seen it through the eyes of Quentin Tarantino,” proclaims the trailer for Inglourious Basterds, now playing from The Weinstein Company and Universal Pictures. But I have seen multiple personalities, at least in dramatic presentation such as the HBO series United States of Tara, and I’m more inclined to imagine Inglourious Basterds might be a series of sequences in the mind of Toni Collette’s character in that show.

By this I mean what is this movie trying to be? Longtime fans of Quentin Tarantino films (Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2) will say it’s exactly what it should be. But I still have to justify why it is all over the map. Is it a realistic war drama? It provides a fascinating alternate history to aspects of the war in Europe, devoid of large battle scenes yet with compelling action and a good bit of graphic violence, a Tarantino trademark.

But I was more moved by Carl Foreman’s The Victors (1963), for example, in exploring the dark underside of the war. Is it Tarantino’s homage (positive and negative) to European directors? Most probably it is, with overt references to G. W. Pabst and Leni Riefenstahl and subtle (and not so subtle) reflections on the styles of Sergio Leone, and perhaps even Ingmar Bergman and François Truffaut.

Is it a satire on World War II personalities and films with often silly and outlandish scenes? Absolutely! So for those who want to see a historical movie with a good dose of wackiness from one of modern cinema’s most popular and quirky directors, Inglourious Basterds is for you.

The film is divided into chapters. Chapter One presents one of the most gripping scenes I’ve witnessed in a long time. The interchange between a French farmer (Denis Menochet) suspected of hiding Jews and an SS officer (Christoph Waltz) is well-written and staged and, despite the “Spaghetti Western” score á la Ennio Morricone, would stand up well in a dramatic treatment of the period. With Chapter Two and the introduction of The Basterds, one begins to suspect something different is afoot here, starting with Lt. Aldo Raine’s (the most grizzled looking Brad Pitt yet who delivers the role with customary excellence) monologue. From there the film meanders through carefully connected scenes that build to the climax of “Operation Kino.” These sequences range from dramatic and interesting to graphic and buffoonish, depending on how they play in Tarantino’s grand plan. Waltz manages to navigate these variations deftly while one imagines Pitt had to keep from cracking Raines’ granite jaw over some of his scenes and lines.

Although Tarantino took his film’s title from Enzo Castellari’s 1978 film Inglorious Bastards, Castellari, who appears in Inglourious Basterds, says, “It’s a completely different movie; this is Quentin’s own thing. This is not a remake, this is…this is something that I inspired.” World War II magazine lists among Tarantino’s reading list Occupation – The Ordeal of France 1940-1944 by Ian Ousby (1998), but there is historical precedent for the idea of an organized Jewish force fighting fascism. The British formed a Jewish Brigade of “three battalions of excellent infantry, all Palestinians,” according to Sgt. Major Mick Goldstein, a member of the force. And the British No. 10 (Inter-Allied) Commando unit of the 1st Special Service Brigade served in Normandy from June 6, 1944 for raiding and reconnaissance.

The film was shot in Germany and Paris, in some cases on historic sound stages; it is authentic in many details of uniform, props and scenery. The primarily European actors, who are terrific if not yet well known in the U. S., are joined by a few familiar faces including Mike Myers as British officer Ed Fenech. “Both my parents were in WWII in the British Army,” says Myers. “My Dad was in the Royal Engineers, and my Mom was in the Royal Air Force. When Quentin called and said, ‘Would you like to play a British General?’ I couldn’t believe it.” Veteran actor Rod Taylor gives a brief and strange performance as Winston Churchill. The low point of the film for me was the portrayal of Joseph Goebbels (Sylvester Groth) and particularly Adolph Hitler (Martin Wuttke) as one-sided caricatures.

What’s the uniqueness in that?

I like my history movies straight, not shaken or stirred, even if celluloid is only a two dimensional device that can’t envelop the full complexities of war. Other writer-directors have done it better for me. On the other hand, filmmakers like Tarantino and Joel & Ethan Coen are making movies that are seen and talked about long after their premieres. Inglourious Basterds will have audiences talking and scratching their heads about what they just saw; and even fantastical, improbable and downright silly historical portrayals are worth talking about.

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