Does the movie ever cue the audience that this is not a historical film, but a highly fictional, if not actual fantasy, film set in a specific historical time?
Well, the movie’s opening screen displays the words, “Once upon a time,” so yeah. It’s followed by spaghetti-western music in the very first sequence as Landa’s car appears in the distance, a deliberate tribute to Sergio Leone but gratingly out of place with Naahtsees and French countryside. Also, the introduction of the character Hugo Stiglitz is one big major clue. Another is casting Martin Wuttke as Adolf Hitler, right. There are any number of actors who could be made to resemble Hitler more closely (i.e., David Bamber of last year’s “Valkyrie”). Churchill also makes a brief appearance (not identified as Winston, though) and the resemblance is only barely adequate for the audience to figure out who it is supposed to be.
