Nazi Germany seems to be the moral focal point of the 20th century, at least for the West. In arguments with humanists, existentialists, situationalists, it is still possible to get a consensus that Nazi crimes were wrong. So it becomes an occasion to ask what is wrong with humanity. Films keep probing the Nazi event asking, what led to it? (Cabaret) What was it like to be Jewish then? (Gardens of the Finzi-Continis, Lacomb Lucien) What was it like to be Christian? (The Hiding Place) Other movies have dealt specifically with Hitler and his inner circle.
In her earlier movie, Love and Anarchy, Italian director Lina Wertmuller depicted a young anarchist (Giancarlo Gianinni) who felt it was his duty to assassinate Mussolini, and tells the story of his failure. In her new movie, Seven Beauties, Pasqualino (again played by Giancarlo) is a cheap pragmatist, who has learned, possibly from being surrounded by his mother and seven sisters, how to charm women. Being a pragmatist, when his charm fails him, he has no qualms about using force.
Pasqualino’s trouble begins when he decides to protect his family honor. He ends up killing, not entirely intentionally, the man who wronged one of the “seven beauties” (his oldest sister) and bungles the job of disposing of his body. Pasqualino gets sent to prison, then to an insane asylum, and from there he manages to enter the military, where he deserts and ends up in a Nazi concentration camp.
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