10 Massively Underrated War Movie Performances
3. Mélanie Laurent As Shosanna Dreyfus - Inglorious Basterds
"I have a message for Germany...that you are all going to die tonight. And I want you to look deep into the face of the Jew that is going to do it!"
Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds saw Christoph Waltz turn in one of the most critically acclaimed performances of the last two decades. With the German-Austrian actor earning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of SS officer Hans Landa, one of the finest war film bows in recent memory often finds itself overshadowed.
Simply put, Mélanie Laurent is as mesmerising in her role as Shoshanna Dreyfus. A French Jewish cinema owner who saw her entire family executed by Landa when she was eighteen years old, Shoshanna embarks on a campaign of retribution against the "Jew Hunter" and the Nazi regime.
Laurent is utterly believable as a hardened survivor and perpetrator of sadistic vengeance, while simultaneously lending staggering levels of legitimacy to the moments where her mask slips to reveal a traumatised and petrified young woman.
Waltz may have swept the accolades for this offering, but to say that his in-film competition was stiff would be the understatement of the century.