Bruno replies that: [...] it's always better that decisions are taken by a soldier. This could be interpreted as support for military dictatorships It is also claimed that Italian soldiers are pictured as pure, generous and altruistic, even though the only armed forces they could come from were the Italian Social Republics, such as the Decima Flottiglia MAS, historically infamous for their record of war crimes. Behaviour of Slavs The Yugoslav partisans are attributed a large number of negative traits: in order of appearance, they: shoot German soldiers who surrendered; one of them rapes a woman; one tries to take his son from his mother; burn the Italian flag; burn school books in Italian; threaten Italians in order to force them to give up their jobs; force Italians out of their village and separate parents from their children; betray their Italian allies (Italian partisans); murder the population of entire villages and throw the people into foibe after binding them in iron wire; throw dogs after them for a superstition; set an orphanage ablaze; are drunkards; murder civilians as a means of intimidating other Italians into submission; murder Italian partisans who should be their allies; betray Italian soldiers who were promised to enter the resistance, and massacre them; they do not think twice about firing on a child with a gun. The slavs presented in a better light were Anja, girlfriend of an Italian soldier, and a few other minor characters. Supposed antisemitism One character, Fabrizio Pavan, is one of the antagonists. He could be interpreted as a stereotypical jew from antisemitic literature: he hides his food from the people (of which many are hungry children) who are saving him and his family; he is unable to perform practical tasks, such as repairing his car; he and his wife are very attached to their money and valuables; he tries to give a child to a Slav officer in order to buy himself freedom: sacrificing children was a common blood libel against Jews through the Middle Ages; he is unwilling to fight even if it is to save his family because of his cowardice; as soon as the fight begins he tries to surrender, only to be shot dead in the back; he also has a large nose, a beard, and a darker-than-average complexion. His name, Pavan, is derived from the city of Padova. Many Jews in Italy have names derived from