The Gestapo's Last Orgy (1977)

Films of this sub-genre - the prison camp sexploitation movie - are hugely problematic, arguably representing exploitation cinema at its most misogynistic.  Those set during World War Two, with their action taking place in concentration camps are even more problematic.  Not just misogynistic, but also exploitative of the Holocaust, with their depiction of the torture and sexual exploitation of Jewish women.  Indeed, it could be argued that they trivialise the Holocaust, turning it into a perverted entertainment for (mainly) male audiences sitting at a safe historical distance from the real events.  It allows modern audiences to vicariously participate in the depravities of the Nazi regime, without actually having to take any responsibility for them.  Are these films part of a process of 'legitimising' the Third Reich by presenting it as entertainment?  The answer to all of this is that I really don't know.  What I do know is that, for me, they represent the point at which I find exploitation becoming offensive.  (That said, I have no intention of starting a campaign to ban them - just not watching them is is sufficient.

Part of the attraction of exploitation films, for me at least, is that they are ultimately ludicrous, taking their sleazy scenarios to ridiculous extremes: nobody, surely, could ever take them seriously or mistake them for depictions of reality.  The problem with this type of Nazi-themed sexploitation pictures is that they are depicting events which are disturbingly close to reality.  There simply is no entertainment to be found in the exploits of the Third Reich.  They don't even have the other fall back of exploitation cinema - that they are exploring subject matter and themes 'legitimate' cinema won't.  Just about every aspect of the Nazis has been explored ad nauseum by mainstream popular culture.  Anyway, to actually address the Random Movie Trailer in question, Gestapo's Last Orgy (1977) is fairly typical of this genre.  Like many exploitation films of its period, it is, in essence, an Italian knock off of a US original, in that it was clearly inspired by the success of Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS, (which had been shot on the sets left over from Hogan's Heroes).  Much slicker looking than the US original, it is clearly also trying to appeal to the more 'sophisticated' audiences that had watched 'legitimate' and 'artier' films like The Night Porter and Salo:or the 120 Days of Sodom, which had likewise mined the vein of fascist cruelty and sexploitation.

Ultimately though, these glossy production values can't disguise the fact that the movie's sole purpose is to present the brutalisation, dehumanisation and sexual exploitation of vulnerable women as entertainment.  The fact that it takes place in the context of an extreme right-wing regime guilty of genocide - and, indeed, was made in a country which itself had a recent history of fascist repression and brutality - makes it even more unpalatable.  Sorry to sound terribly moralistic, but, as I've intimated, I think that the majority of us have a 'cut off' point when it comes to exploitation films, where we feel it has done 'too far'.  This happens to be mine.  Fascinatingly, it can be a very fine line.  As I'm sure I've mentioned elsewhere, while I find Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS an uncomfortable watch, I've actually enjoyed its sequel Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks enjoyable.  The change of setting and the loss of the Nazi symbolism pushed it firmly into the realm of fantasy for me. It's still exploitative of women, but just not, to me, offensive.  Like a said: a fine line.