Why is the meeting of basterds and Bridget von Hammersmark planned in the basement?
In Inglourious Basterds the basterds have to meet Bridget von Hammersmark at some tavern in the basement and the basement turns out to be a very bad choice.
Basterds themselves mention several times it's a really bad place even before they find the German soldiers inside and the only explanation why it is chosen is that it was chosen by Bridget and she's not a military strategist, she's just an actress.
Okay, she's an actress, but the operation is planned at the British army headquaters and even Churchill himself takes part in planning and I guess they had a chance to hint to Bridget how the place should be chosen in advance and still with all the best men taking part in planning the operation the meeting is still planned in a outrageously badly chosen place.
How is that possible that such an important operation is planned without proper selection of a meeting place?
Best Answer
Like you said, they most probably instructed von Hammersmark on the requirements to some degree. But I don't think they gave that many instructions, apart from the obvious ones that it should be a quite desolate little bar in the outskirts of Paris, without a high chance of German soldiers hanging around. Of course they could have told her much more things, like "don't chose a basement bar, don't chose an attic bar, chose a bar where the bartender understands neither German nor English, chose a bar where the bartender doesn't have a rifle himself, chose a bar with the bartender belonging to the resistance, ...", but well.
But excluding those factors I'd say the tavern was a very good meeting point (ignoring the fact that it was coincidentally swarming with bad guys ;-)), especially since the basement-factor increased its desolateness and decreased the chance of someone from the outside seeing what conspiracies happen inside (and I for myself, being not a military strategist either though, would have thought it quite a good meeting place, too, hadn't Aldo told me it wasn't). And like said, she wasn't picking a battlefield, but a secret meeting place. In the end I'm not even sure there was really such high importance in that meeting place at all, given that they were just gathering and not doing a serious operation, which came only later on.
And apart from the above possible in-universe explanation, it was of course also needed in the story to drive the conflict between von Hammersmark and the Basterds due to her bad choice and to make the resulting chaos and standoff more exciting, without the remaining Basterds just shooting everyone easily through the windows. In the end they wouldn't have needed a public meeting place at all, necessitating the Basterds to dress and play as German officers. They could have just met in the woods or an abandoned house or wherever (or the house across the tavern, where all the other Basterds were), but that would have spared us one of the best scenes of the whole movie.
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What happens to Bridget von Hammersmark?
When the ushers announce that the film is about to begin, Landa stops her and Aldo from leaving and asks her to talk to her in private. In Shosanna's office, Landa quickly unmasks Bridget and strangles her to death.Is Bridget von Hammersmark real?
Q Diane Kruger plays Bridget von Hammersmark, a German actress who spies for the Allies. Is she a real person? A Von Hammersmark is imaginary, though her glamour and beauty evoke the popular German actress, Marlene Dietrich. Dietrich, however, was never a spy.Who was in the bar scene in Inglourious Basterds?
EricTitle/RankProprietor/BartenderNationalityFrenchFateDied in the tavern gunfightPortrayed byChristian Berkel6 more rowsWho is Bridget von Hammersmark based on?
Bridget von Hammersmark is a character in Inglourious Basterds played by Diane Kruger. Bridget is a popular film star in Nazi Germany and a spy for the Allies. Her character is inspired by famous German actresses of the time including Leni Refenshtal and Marlene Dietrich.Inglorious Basterds (2009) Bridget von Hammersmark Interrogation scene
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Answer 2
Because the tavern owner was himself part of the "Ressistance francaise", so was a good option for being a "safe location" in first place.
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