I always thought that Shosanna and Marcel were just planning on going down with the cinema. Something about their scenes just felt to me like they knew they were about to die. You got me curious enough about it to check the screenplay. In the opening scene of Chapter 5, QT says (of Shosanna putting on her red dress), “This is the first time in her life she’s had the opportunity, or the occasion to wear something like this. Since she knows this is the last night of her life, no time like the present.”

Later, right before Marcel goes to lock the auditorium and take his position behind the screen, the script says this: “This is the last time they will see each other, too much to say. He holds her in his arms and lays a one kiss before I die wet one on her.”

I feel like that’s cheating, though; you should believe whatever you felt the film told you to believe when you saw it. (I’m quite certain QT would agree with me on that point!)

Also, do you think the Basterds just got caught up in the moment of killing all the Nazis? Because I’d think that you’d want to live to tell the tale about the time you machine gunned the shit out of Hitler!

I agree that thinking of them as suicide bombers gives their actions a different connotation (Landa refers to it as “a terrorist plot”), but I do think they were consistently portrayed as being fearless throughout the film, willing to do whatever it takes to help their cause, so it seems to fit to me.