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"Salo: 120 Days of Sodom"
1975
Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini
An extremely controversial film,
the last
work by Pier Paolo Pasolini. Loosely based on the book by the Marquis de
Sade, Pasolini transplanted the setting to Mussolini's post-Nazi-fascist
state of Salo. Pasolini creates a symbolic place where sexual joy and
normality are punished while perversion is rewarded. The plot concerns
eight fascists who round up 16 teenage boys and girls and, in a secluded
villa, submit their hostages to various sadistic ordeals including rape,
mutilation and murder. "Pasolini has intended  the
film to work on many different levels: an illustration of the moral
anarchy of absolute power; the debasement of sexuality through violence;
an exploration of victims as victimizers. The result is, alternately,
surreal, harrowing, depressing, repulsive, and fascinating…a hellish
journey through a sick soul." With Paolo
Bonacelli, Giorgio Cataldi, Uberto Paolo Quintavalle, Aldo Valletti,
Caterina Boratto, Elso De Giorgi, Hélène Surgère. Color. Italian with
English subtitles. 115 minutes.
Guest Comments
From: Jeremy
I want to begin by saying that Pier Paolo Pasolini is a brilliant
director. Although very difficult to watch, Salo is
a fascinating, very well directed film. It is great how Pasolini merges
literary elements. The film is structured after Dante's Inferno,
descending down levels to the films horrifying end. The way that Pasolini
updated Sade's classic book is also very imaginative. If you can make it
through, it's a really good film.
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