'The Conformist'

A great question about human nature during times of great tribulation, I think, come back to conformity, and, in essence, making things go back to the way they were.

I think this is more true for ordinary people attempting survive within certain levels of fascism.

Our hero Marcello only wants to be normal. To almost blend into the background and work, eat, sleep, play and laze about like anyone else not hired by Mussolini's secret police to murder his former professor.

In order to achieve this normal life, in order to be OK with the surroundings and environment, Marcello feels he needs to murder his former professor. Throw in a homosexual experience as a kid and all the pressure of living in a fascist state and that might push any and all of us to kill someone.

This doesn't excuse murder and killing. It doesn't excuse young men serving as guards at concentration camps. Nor does it excuse the Jews that helped shove the carcasses into the incinerator. But I believe we'd all be rather shocked at what a human will do in order to conform, to bleed into the background.