10 War Movie Plot Twists That Nobody Saw Coming
3. The Alternate Timeline - Inglourious Basterds
The initial goings in the chaotic universe depicted by Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds indicated that the director was always willing to play it somewhat fast and loose with WWII's actual canon.
However, the extent to which Tarantino was willing to venture away from the realms of reality wasn't fully established until the confirmation that his film depicted an alternate - and decidedly embellished - historical timeline.
How does the inimitable filmmaker confirm this state of affairs, you ask? A few minor liberties with the real version of events here and there - namely, the Basterds massacring the entirety of Nazi High Command as they attend a premiere of the propaganda film, "Nation's Pride".
The delightful visual of Adolf Hitler's face being torn to shreds by a hail of machine gun bullets even comes around as the result of a slick twist within a twist. Christoph Waltz's Hans Landa merrily sells out his superiors to save his own skin in light of the Axis' impending defeat, despite his reputation as a fanatically loyal and ruthless Nazi.
The mind-bending revelation that Tarantino's film depicts alternate history makes his 2009 endeavour a worthy addition to this list, even before the shocking manner in which the subsequent bloody mayhem unfolds is revealed.