The opening scene in Inglourious Basterds saw Hans Landa letting Shosanna escape, which seems out of character – but there's a reason why he did it.

Inglourious Basterds began with an intense sequence with Hans Landa interrogating a French dairy farmer, which ended up turning violent. Landa had his chance to shoot Shosanna Dreyfus as she escaped, but he let her go – but why did he do that? In 2009, Quentin Tarantino brought his sixth film (as both Kill Bill films count as one), titled Inglourious Basterds, and which told an alternate version of World War II with his trademark narrative and visual style.

Inglourious Basterds followed different subplots connected by one big event (World War II) and a couple of characters, most notably Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz), a SS officer known as the “Jew Hunter”. The story focused on the Basterds, a group of Jewish soldiers led by Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) and whose mission was to kill and scalp as many Nazis as possible, including Hitler; Shosanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent), a Jewish girl whose family was murdered by Landa and his men and who went on to operate a cinema under the identity of Emmanuelle Mimieux; and Lt. Archie Hicox (Michael Fassbender) and Bridget von Hammersmack (Diane Kruger), who were part of a mission with the Basterds to attack a Nazi premiere taking place at Shosanna’s cinema. Landa served as the main villain, and he made it clear from the very beginning that he was a cold-blooded SS officer, yet he let Shosanna escape, making viewers wonder why.

The aforementioned interrogation scene was to learn the whereabouts of the last unaccounted-for Jewish family in the area: the Dreyfus. Landa suspected they were hiding under the floor, and he was right. After ordering his soldiers to shoot through the floorboards, all members of the Dreyfus family were killed except for Shosanna, who escaped and ran away. Landa saw her and pointed at her with his gun, but decided not to shoot and instead said goodbye to her (the now-famous “au revoir, Shosanna!” line). Given Landa’s dedication to hunting down as many Jews as possible, it seems strange that he let Shosanna live, but it wasn’t a brief moment of humanity, and he did it because he didn’t think she would survive the night.

The original script (which can be found online) includes a scene where Landa explained to the driver that took him to the farmhouse why he let Shosanna escape. Landa didn’t see her as a threat or an “enemy of the state”, as she was a young girl with no food, shelter, shoes, and who had just witnessed the murder of her family. In addition to that, news about what happened at the farm would travel quickly and no one would risk helping her, with Landa even considering that a neighbor could turn her in. Some viewers feel this also added to the excitement of hunting people, as Landa knew that if Shosanna survived they would cross paths again – which they did, but he was fooled by her new identity (though he might have suspected at first that she wasn’t who she claimed to be).

Of course, Landa was wrong, and not only did Shosanna survive the night but she also found someone who helped her and even gave her a new name, a new family, and pretty much a new life. Landa didn’t get to kill Shosanna, nor did she kill him (though her plan was key in killing Hitler), but he got what he deserved at the hands of Aldo Raine and Utivich, the last Bastards standing.

Next: Why Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds Spin-Off Never Happened