Colonel Hans Landa

Colonel Hans Landa is the primary antagonist of the 2009 Quentin Tarantino film Inglourious Basterds, portrayed by Austrian actor Christoph Waltz. Standartenführer (Colonel) Hans Landa is a cruel and ruthless but charming, polyglot and diabolically intelligent Austrian SS officer in the Sicherheitsdienst, who is nicknamed "The Jew Hunter" in reference to his keen ability to locate Jews hiding throughout France. He speaks English, French, German and Italian. He is a high ranking member of the National Socialist German Workers (Nazi) Party holding the rank of Standartenführer (Colonel) in the SS.

Hans Landa appears to be the recipient of several high awards and decorations of Nazi Germany. He is seen wearing both the Golden Party Badge and the Blood Order, indicating that he either participated in Hitler's 1923 Beer Hall Putsch, or that he had been a Nazi Party member since no later than 1932. On his dinner dress uniform, he is seen wearing the Golden Knights Cross of the War Merit Cross with Swords, the highest possible grade of this order.

Hans Landa has been compared to several other characters in fiction. His "larger-than-life cunning" and "European sensibility" have been compared to that of a Bond villain. Waltz himself has compared the character to Sherlock Holmes, due to the meticulous, theatrical way Landa searches for Jews and traitors. Landa was also compared to Die Hard villain Hans Gruber, due to his disdain for the inferior intellect of those around him.

Christoph Waltz

Quentin Tarantino has said that Landa might be the greatest character he's ever written. He originally wanted Leonardo DiCaprio for the part. The director then decided to have the character played by a German actor. The role ultimately went to the Austrian Waltz, who, according to Tarantino, "gave me my movie back," as he felt the movie couldn't be made without Landa as a character but feared the part was "unplayable."

When Waltz auditioned for the role, he had no prior correspondence with Tarantino or producer Lawrence Bender, and believed that the character of Hans Landa was created solely for the audition process. Waltz stated that he was most impressed with the dialogue and the depth of the character. Waltz described a scene depicting Landa eating a strudel, and how he had to figure out how he should eat it, rather than what kinds of toppings should go on it. While Landa is eating the strudel, he describes the non-verbal communication between Landa and the character Shosanna as "not so pure", though he would not elaborate further, stating that he wants to leave the interpreting to Tarantino and to the viewers, describing himself as the intermediary.

Waltz describes Landa's character as one who has an understanding of how the world works, stating that the swastika means nothing to him. He adds that he is not driven by ideology, and that if anyone were to call Landa a Nazi, he would clarify that he was not, stating that just because he wears a Nazi uniform does not mean that he believes in the Nazi ideology. In describing the ending between the Basterds and Landa, he describes him as "realistic to the point of being inhuman", adding that he understands that the world is not just one thing at a time, and even though these things may contradict each other, they do not necessarily have to.

Sources: Wikipedia.

Memorable quotes

Col. Hans Landa: Wait for the crème.

Col. Hans Landa: [giddy] Oooh, that's a bingo!
Col. Hans Landa: Is that the way you say it? "That's a bingo?"
Lt. Aldo Raine: You just say "bingo".
Col. Hans Landa: Bingo! How fun! But, I digress. Where were we?

Col. Hans Landa: [to a bound and blindfolded Lt. Aldo] You've had a nice long run, Aldo. Alas, you're now in the hands of the SS.
[raises hands in a dramatic manner]
Col. Hans Landa: My hands, to be exact. And they've been waiting a long time to touch you.
[fingers reach out and poke Lt. Aldo in the face; Lt. Aldo flinches]
Col. Hans Landa: [chuckling] Caught you flinching.

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