Gillo Pontecorvo's Academy Award-nominated "Kapò" tells the story of a young Jewish woman sent to a concentration camp where she eventually gets put in charge of other prisoners due to her fraternization with a guard. The viewer understands that young Edith (Susan Strasberg) is so terrorized by what she experiences that her desperation drives her to align herself with the oppressors. In other prisoners' cases, they kill themselves by throwing themselves against the fence.
Obviously this movie isn't as hard-hitting as "Schindler's List", but it still bears watching as an indictment of fascist Italy's participation in Germany's extermination of anyone deemed the "wrong" kind of person (whether it was Jews, progressives, LGBTs, or someone else). I don't know whether or not Italy had made a notable movie focusing on the Holocaust prior to this, but this movie doesn't gloss over anything. There's even a scene where the prisoners are forced to march naked.
Harrowing movie, but an excellent one. I recommend it. Also starring Laurent Terzieff and Emmanuelle Riva.
Obviously this movie isn't as hard-hitting as "Schindler's List", but it still bears watching as an indictment of fascist Italy's participation in Germany's extermination of anyone deemed the "wrong" kind of person (whether it was Jews, progressives, LGBTs, or someone else). I don't know whether or not Italy had made a notable movie focusing on the Holocaust prior to this, but this movie doesn't gloss over anything. There's even a scene where the prisoners are forced to march naked.
Harrowing movie, but an excellent one. I recommend it. Also starring Laurent Terzieff and Emmanuelle Riva.