Review of Seven Beauties (1975) by Michael L — 08 May 2009

A sardonic vision of the rise of fascism in Italy and Europe. The film is ruthless - the everyman we are to identify with is a passive accomplice to the brutality that we consciously reject as immoral, yet our identification with Pasqualino - our representative in the film - also attempts to indict us, from his comic manslaughter in defending the honour of his wretched sisters to his "courtship" of a female commandant of a concentration camp, a woman as ugly as sin itself and in his attempt vindicating everything she represents; like an ape he does what is necessary to survive.