My first thought on viewing this was that this is an incredibly, absurdly, intensely silly film. Yes, it's exploitation, and sure, it arguably trivialises a really awful period in European history. Absolutely, you can see this entire sub-genre as something loathsome and reprehensible, and it's possible to argue taht some films within this category are just that. But this? Come on. This is wall-to-wall silliness, and totally harmless. The worst crime this movie commits, possibly, is being naieve. I know that's a weird thing to say about a Nazi exploitation picture, but I think the people who made this intended it largely as a comic farce, and I think on that level, it succeeds rather well. My girlfriend and I had a great time with this movie and there were moments when neither of us could stop laughing.
Now that I've had a chance to calm down, though, I realise that the film-makers did something kind of genius here. Actually, there's a huge frisson of sadness around everything here, but it only really comes to the surface later, when you find you have a lot of sympathy for some of the characters here and not only what they are forced to do, but how it makes them question their very ideology. I'm referring, specifically, mostly to the girls, including Kitty, erstwhile owner of the salon, trainer of prostitutes and so on. You might just be surprised that this film tries to inject some class into proceedings. Granted it's not subtle, but would you want this kind of film to be? The scene in the aquarium, where the fish bear witness to a little national socialist girl stepping on some poor jewish kid's toy, is a strange mix of poignant and heavy-handed, and the fact that the film stops its crazy antics for a moment to dwell lingeringly on this carefully constructed scene should tell you a few things about the makers' intentions. I say again, this is a really interesting mixture of the crass, the downright hilarious and the tragic.
Another facet of the production that i thought was worth commenting on was that although it's wall-to-wall nudity almost right from the start (and just as much male as female, I might add), you'd be hard-pressed to find much eroticism here because the situations are just so absurd. The idea is that these people treat sexuality as a military exercise. All the tests, rigors, mingling; its' all a kind of official gymnasium activity. It's only later, once you sort of spend time with some of the girls and their situations, does something approaching pathos start to sneak in. Maybe there's actually a bit of subtlety going on here, after all, because I can't think of any other movie of this type that tries to engender its characters with sympathy.
As i said, i watched this with my girlfriend, and therefore I can vouch for the fact that there's always something interesting to look at. Lots of crazy costumes, bizarre scenarios, wild antics. And the songs! How could I forget? During the first half of this movie they com at you pretty fast, making you feel like you're experiencing some insane Nazi cabaret musical film. The music ranges from pretty-damn-catchy to bloody awful, basically at the film-maker's whim. Some of it is certainly rather good, which underscores my idea that everything garishly absurd in this film is intentionally done to make you groan or laugh. The songs mostly seem like the sort of thing that would be popular in Nazi Germany at the time, and are often both traditional and boisterous.
Things settle down later on. In fact, the whole tone of the movie starts to shift beyond the second half into something much more dramatic. I must admit that, as this is quite a bit longer than your average exploitation film, probably because the creators tried to imbue it with a real sense of artistry (!), I did find my attention beginning to wander a bit. But make no mistake, as far as these Nazi flicks go, you're not going to get any classier or more interesting than this. I guess you could say this is the "Caligula" of nazixploitation, considering how much is visually on display here. This film probably has more extras in it than the rest of the genre combined.
I recommend this film if you are in the mood for this kind of thing. it has a bit of ambition that might surprise you, and if you can relax about this sort of thing, it's actually really funny in parts. And while I can't say that "good" really triumphs in the end, there's nothing here glorifying national socialism -- you'll find quite the reverse to be true, and on a basic level, I'd say this film works as a particularly bawdy form of satire.
Now that I've had a chance to calm down, though, I realise that the film-makers did something kind of genius here. Actually, there's a huge frisson of sadness around everything here, but it only really comes to the surface later, when you find you have a lot of sympathy for some of the characters here and not only what they are forced to do, but how it makes them question their very ideology. I'm referring, specifically, mostly to the girls, including Kitty, erstwhile owner of the salon, trainer of prostitutes and so on. You might just be surprised that this film tries to inject some class into proceedings. Granted it's not subtle, but would you want this kind of film to be? The scene in the aquarium, where the fish bear witness to a little national socialist girl stepping on some poor jewish kid's toy, is a strange mix of poignant and heavy-handed, and the fact that the film stops its crazy antics for a moment to dwell lingeringly on this carefully constructed scene should tell you a few things about the makers' intentions. I say again, this is a really interesting mixture of the crass, the downright hilarious and the tragic.
Another facet of the production that i thought was worth commenting on was that although it's wall-to-wall nudity almost right from the start (and just as much male as female, I might add), you'd be hard-pressed to find much eroticism here because the situations are just so absurd. The idea is that these people treat sexuality as a military exercise. All the tests, rigors, mingling; its' all a kind of official gymnasium activity. It's only later, once you sort of spend time with some of the girls and their situations, does something approaching pathos start to sneak in. Maybe there's actually a bit of subtlety going on here, after all, because I can't think of any other movie of this type that tries to engender its characters with sympathy.
As i said, i watched this with my girlfriend, and therefore I can vouch for the fact that there's always something interesting to look at. Lots of crazy costumes, bizarre scenarios, wild antics. And the songs! How could I forget? During the first half of this movie they com at you pretty fast, making you feel like you're experiencing some insane Nazi cabaret musical film. The music ranges from pretty-damn-catchy to bloody awful, basically at the film-maker's whim. Some of it is certainly rather good, which underscores my idea that everything garishly absurd in this film is intentionally done to make you groan or laugh. The songs mostly seem like the sort of thing that would be popular in Nazi Germany at the time, and are often both traditional and boisterous.
Things settle down later on. In fact, the whole tone of the movie starts to shift beyond the second half into something much more dramatic. I must admit that, as this is quite a bit longer than your average exploitation film, probably because the creators tried to imbue it with a real sense of artistry (!), I did find my attention beginning to wander a bit. But make no mistake, as far as these Nazi flicks go, you're not going to get any classier or more interesting than this. I guess you could say this is the "Caligula" of nazixploitation, considering how much is visually on display here. This film probably has more extras in it than the rest of the genre combined.
I recommend this film if you are in the mood for this kind of thing. it has a bit of ambition that might surprise you, and if you can relax about this sort of thing, it's actually really funny in parts. And while I can't say that "good" really triumphs in the end, there's nothing here glorifying national socialism -- you'll find quite the reverse to be true, and on a basic level, I'd say this film works as a particularly bawdy form of satire.