Landa’s Rat Speech | Inglourious Basterds | Script
Landa: Now, if one were to determine what attribute the German people share with a beast, it would be the cunning and the predatory instinct of a hawk. But if one were to determine what attributes the Jews share with a beast, it would be that of the rat. The Führer and Goebbels's propaganda have said pretty much the same thing, but where our conclusions differ is I don't consider the comparison an insult. Consider, for a moment, the world a rat lives in. It's a hostile world, indeed. If a rat were to scamper through your front door right now, would you greet it with hostility?
Perrier LaPadite: I suppose I would.
Landa: Has a rat ever done anything to you to create this animosity you feel towards them?
LaPadite: Rats spread diseases. They bite people.
Landa: Rats were the cause of the bubonic plague, but that's some time ago. I propose to you, any disease a rat could spread, a squirrel could equally carry. Would you agree?
LaPadite: Oui.
Landa: Yet I assume you don't share the same animosity with squirrels that you do with rats, do you?
LaPadite: No.
Landa: But they're both rodents, are they not? And except for the tail, they even rather look alike, don't they?
LaPadite: It's an interesting thought, Herr Colonel.
Landa: Ha! However interesting as the thought may be, it makes not one bit of difference to how you feel. If a rat were to walk in here right now, as I'm talking, would you greet it with a saucer of your delicious milk?
LaPadite: Probably not.
Landa: I didn't think so. You don't like them. You don't really know why you don't like them; all you know is you find them repulsive. Consequently, a German soldier conducts a search of a house suspected of hiding Jews. Where does the hawk look? He looks in the barn, he looks in the attic, he looks in the cellar, he looks everywhere he would hide. But there's so many places it would never occur to a hawk to hide. However, the reason the Führer's brought me off my Alps in Austria and placed me in French cow country today is because it does occur to me. Because I'm aware what tremendous feats human beings are capable of once they abandon dignity.
There is a consistent theme portrayed throughout the memoir, that being the utilization of animal personification. In this video, Landa (the Nazi detective) compares the Jew’s to a rat, and the Nazi to a hawk, searching for their prey; ‘A rat does not necessarily do anything wrong, they are just seen as repulsive, a prejudice and segregated species/ humans of society that are forever treated different, lack respect, and are continuously exterminated’. It seems as though reflecting back among the events that took place during World War II is to be best illustrated and understood through the format in which the majority of civillians witness in today’s day and age.
Reference List |
Esipova, M. (2013, Oct 3). Landa’s rat speech / Inglorious Basterds [Video file]. Retrieved Mar 26, 2015 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTFdjs_QGWc
Quintessentially, Jewish people always seemed to be represented in the lowest demeanour of social status. Whether personified as a Rat or a Mouse, there always seemed to be an unjust animosity placed among their heads, forever struggling to survive while remaining unseen, inside the unreachable cracks of the walls. For some reason, Nazis felt the need to exterminate such pests even though they did no wrong doing, the Squirrel, like the Pig (Polish people) portrayed in Maus did nothing different than the Rat/ Mouse (Jews), though the lives of the Jews were still taken.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe the similarities between this scene from Inglourious Bastards and the memoir, Maus. What a great comparison, also a very affective way to portray the theme within the memoir. I enjoyed watching the clip and now want to see that movie!
ReplyDeleteThis was a great comparison and really helped me to understand the theme more. Its interesting to know that it was common for jews to be thought of as rats which is really sad. It also makes you wonder with the quote you mentioned wether anyone ever thought about why the Jews were thought of so poorly and why those people who knew they weren't bad just went along with what one man was saying.
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