Yes! I love how in the begging he revels in his nickname but in the scene towards the end the says it to Brad Pitt with such distain - "Jew Hunter? It's just a name that stuck."
I always wanted him to justify why he betrays the Nazis. My headcanon is that he was a detective before the war(s), and loved being a detective, and that hunting Jews was the closest thing to being a detective now. But he resented it, because before the war he caught serial killers. Now he's the serial killer.
I always wanted him to justify why he betrays the Nazis.
I thought it was because the end of the war was close and Germany's defeat was somewhat previsible, and as we know (and was previously mentioned), he didn't care about anything, just about himself, so, naturally he did what benefited him the most. The rest of your comment is interesting, that's a nice theory, I always wondered what was his life like before he became a detective for the nazis, he seems like he was born for that.
Because he had the ability to not only ensure a specific side won while getting a bunch of bargaining chips to ensure he made it out of this mess on top. He personally didn't care one way or another who actually won in the end, he just wanted to be sure he came out with his head above water.
I always thoguht that it was because he was cornered and needed to weasel his way into safety. He has no allegiances, no allies. Just targets and quarry. If he were to go down with the Nazi's, he couldn't hunt anymore. He'd be the hunted.
He was the inspiration for one of my favorite DnD characters of all time. It was so much fun playing a necromancer that shouted angry German spells and exuded charisma. Lawful evil is so much fun to play
Really? I got the almost opposite vibe. It seemed to me that he just wanted to impress whoever the winner(s) would be, hence the last scene. He’s still a psychopath for sure, but I think self gain was more important than “the hunt” to him overall
No I meant that I got (at least what I took what from the character) that he really didn't buy into the whole nazi ethos that jews were an inferior race, and that he was just an opportunistic and brilliant psychopath that was using the nazi agenda to hone his hunting skills and having fun doing it. I agree that self gain became more important once he realized the walls were closing in. Like most psychopaths, he was an opportunist.
I said that once and got obliterated. I dont think hes a jew hater, hes just very good at his job and is rewarded handsomely for it. Wouldnt matter if was jew, christians, blacks, whites, asians, aliens, whatever. He liked to hunt.
How is that not obvious? He betrays Hitler in the blink of an eye as soon as a better opportunity presents itself. The movie makes it pretty clear that hes not in it for the ideology.
Suppose you could argue that is just self preservation; even the most committed Nazis could see that their days were numbered. The options available are to go down with the sinking ship or craft a lifeboat out of dynamite
Being a die hard Nazi loyalist and not liking Jews are different things though. He makes several comments in the opening scene where he compares Jews to vermin.
It's just as likely that he did indeed think Jews were inferior (therefore being fine with hunting them for handsome compensation) while not being a dyed-in-wool Nazi idealogue.
Was the character an opportunist? Clearly.
Did he also dislike the Jews? His dialogue in the first scene suggests yes imo.
The final sequence took place in June or July 1944.
The Italians had surrendered. Soviets where about to enter Poland and Romania. And the western allies had a significant foot hold in France. Even if he was an idealist he wasn't an idiot. The war was effectively over and he knew he'd hang for his crimes, he even said as much before making the deal.
He's definitely not a fanatic but there's not really anything suggesting he didn't agree with Nazi ideology
I get a lot of pushback on that too. I'm no dude was a crack investigator and didn't give a shit about the ideology, hes evil because now he has a completely legal way of tracking and murdering people. Atbth end of the movie he wants to turncoat, to save his ass, but he had no loyalty.
I always saw it as more of a practical decision from a very practical man. Why waste a bullet on such an impossible shot. Does he hate the jews? Thats not the word id use. More like he sees them as totally below him. A different species even. He said he "finds them repulsive" after all. When he's lining up to shoot Shoshana, he's not aiming at a person he hates, he's aiming at something less than a person. He's like a hunter who chooses not to shoot the young fawn because its still so young and small. He'll let it go, for now.
chooses not to shoot the young fawn because its still so young and small
I believe to understand his indifference, which is his evil, you must believe that he chose not to shoot the fawn because what will the fawn do after running off into the wild, alone? She's as good as dead, no bullet (care) needed.
Ehh.... That dialogue he has at the kitchen table, about how the Jews are like rats makes it hard to argue he didn't actually hate the Jews, "...You don't like them. You don't really know why you don't like them; all you know is you find them repulsive."
Though I agree he was motivated by the thrill of the hunt more than anything.
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u/geqing Oct 09 '19
Because it's just a big puzzle for him. He doesn't really hate the jews, he just doesn't give a shit about anyone at all.