I have not attended film school but I have been to war a couple or three times and Tarantino does as good a job in 'Inglourious Basterds' as Renoir did in 'The Grand Illusion' when it comes to making moral observations about an enigmatic subject of the first order of importance and relevance; no mean feat even if the film's technical aspects are less than perfect.

Art does indeed insinuate itself into the mind's memory, as you have noted, but just exactly how it does so is elusive and perennially frustrates those who would reduce 'the arts and sciences' to just 'the sciences'. Unless you have solved that great philosophical dichotomy for the rest of us the distinction is still valid and it is the crux of our differing views of the value of Tarantino's work.

We can both be partially correct without contradiction while the greater philosophical questions surrounding how our minds function will remain unanswered for the moment.