La svastica nel ventre (1977)

Director:

Mario Caiano

Writers:

Mario Caiano (screenplay)
Gianfranco Clerici (screenplay)

Release Date:

September 1977 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller | War

Tagline:

What is the worst act a woman can be forced to commit... again and again and again...

Plot:

A Jewish girl and an Aryan, both German, are in love in pre-war times. WW2 breaks up, he is sent to...

Plot Keywords:

Nazi | Death | Finger Penetration | Perversion | Fascism

Cast

Sirpa Lane	...	Hannah Meyer
Giancarlo Sisti	...	Capt. Kurt von Stein
Christiana Borghi	...	Woman at the love camp (as Cristiana Borghi)
Piero Lulli	...	General at the Nazi Brothel
Roberto Posse	...	Klaus Berger
Gianfilippo Carcano	...	Hanna's Father
Marzia Ubaldi	...	Frau Gruber
Renata Moar	...	Klaus's Sister (as Renato Moar)
Isabella Russo
Sarah Crespi	...	First rape victim
Margherita Horowitz	...	Hanna's Mother
Gaetano Russo
Giovanni Di Benedetto		(as Gianni De Benedetto)
Gudrun Gundelach	...	Dr. Günther
Gloria Piedimonte	...	Inga

Also Known As:

Nazi Love Camp 27 (International: English title) (USA) (dubbed version)
Living Nightmare

Runtime:

Australia:86 min | France:85 min | Portugal:85 min | Canada:85 min (Québec)

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (1979) | New Zealand:(Banned) | Sweden:15 (cut version) | Canada:18+ (Québec) | Canada:R (Ontario) | France:-16 | Portugal:M/18 | USA:R | Australia:(Banned) | UK:(Banned)

Filming Locations:

Dobbiaco, Trentino - Alto Adige, Italy

Company:

Filmes

Movie Connections:

Featured in Dusk to Dawn Drive-In Trash-o-Rama Show Vol. 1 (1996) (V)

Rather drama than exploitation

Despite its exploiting English title "Nazi Love Camp 27" and despite the fact that this film belongs to the so-called "Nazi Camp films" (or, even worse, "Nazi porn films", although these films are all not pornographic) that were made in Italy following the success of both "Ilsa - She-Wolf of the SS" by Don Edmonds and Pier Paolo Pasolini's shocking masterpiece "Salo o le 120 Giornate di Sodoma", it is rather an anti-war drama than an exploitation movie.

Unlike the other films of this notorious genre - like e.g. Bruno Mattei's "KZ9 - Lager di Sterminio" or the outrageous "Le Ultime Orgie del Terzo Reich", it focuses on a very depressing story about a young Jewish woman that gets captured by the Gestapo and deported in a concentration camp, only to be taken home by a influential Nazi general with masochist tendencies (of course he only shows these tendencies towards the Jewish woman when they're alone). He makes her the boss of a brothel for Nazi officers, and at first, she accepts the job because it's her only way to stay alive. Needless to say that the story doesn't offer a happy end.

Although there are some scenes of Nazi war atrocities during the scenes in the concentration camp, but unlike similar scenes in other such films, they are never exploiting, but just show up the unbelievable crimes Nazi Germany committed during World War II. The end of the film, which is a very realistic approach to this difficult topic, is pure tragedy and kicks the viewer unpleasantly in the stomach, because director Caiano manages to make one feel and hope with the tragic Jewish woman.

"The swastika in the stomach", how the title translates literally, is an intriguing and depressing film, but also a very powerful one that is much too rare. In my opinion, it should have a status just alongside Pasolini's far more grotesque "Salo", because it's one of the most impressing anti-war dramas that won't let you forget the terrible things that had happened in Europe during World War II.