Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom
1975 ‘Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma’ Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini
Synopsis
Four corrupted fascist libertines round up 9 teenage boys and girls and subject them to 120 days of sadistic physical, mental and sexual torture.
Cast
Paolo Bonacelli Giorgio Cataldi Umberto Paolo Quintavalle Aldo Valletti Hélène Surgère Sonia Saviange Sergio Fascetti Bruno Musso Franco Merli Rinaldo Missaglia Giuseppe Patruno Guido Galletti Efisio Etzi Claudio Troccoli Fabrizio Menichini Maurizio Valaguzza Ezio Manni Caterina Boratto Elsa De Giorgi
Popular reviews
More-
Who thought a film with rape, faeces, cruelty, torture, humiliation, fascism, voyeurism, all-bets-are-off sex, naked people everywhere and crazy Italian rich fetishists could be so fucking boring!?
-
Salò is, in the estimation of myself and many others, very much a film about the limits to which human beings can push themselves -- if not, as in the case of its steely bureaucrats, necessarily themselves. So, with this idea at its heart, Pasolini puts his audience in a unique position: we, us complacent types, are nearly-equal participants in the events simply by observing unspeakable, sometimes unwatchable actions of the upper class. (You can understand why this stands as one of Mr. Haneke's favorites.) Fire it up!
I can't find myself comfortable with a personal reaction, because Salò is, more often than not -- and to my great surprise -- a really engaging film. Please don't think I enjoy…
-
It's the easiest thing in the world to turn around and just say "you're sick in the head," and sometimes it's easier than actually trying to see this from a different point of view. But I tried my best.
I watched A Serbian Film yesterday, and thought I'd carry on the trend and get this one done today.
Gruesome, vile and shocking it might be, but it's also a grueling tale about suffering and survival, and the limits of the human being both emotionally and physically.
I'd still avoid it like the plague though.
-
Salo is infamous, and for good reason. I knew about the unsettling images of torture, but what I didn't expect was just how surreal the film would be. Moments from this film could be even funny in any other context, and wouldn't feel out of place in The Phantom of Liberty or The Golden Coach. But these moments to just make it more disturbing. The insouciance with which these men and women participate in the horrible acts of sexual torture, and the ease with which seemingly normal people slip into such sophisticated forms of evil, is much more terrifying and realistic than any of the torture itself.
-
Pasolini's idea of adapting Marquis de Sade's 1785 novel to Fascist Italy is brilliant. This allegory is the most analyzed aspect of the film, along with the extremely graphic imagery, but I think the most striking part of this film is the list of "necessary readings" that he presents before the film starts. Jean-Pierre Gorin called this film a "learned text," in that it explores the themes of both Marquis de Sade's writings and writings on Sade very openly in the film itself. The way Pasolini (who identified himself primarily as a poet, like Cocteau) presents all of this is different than anything I've ever seen in a film. Be warned though, I did not expect this film to be as hard to watch as it was.
-
2 Girls, 1 Cup: WW2 Edition
Recent reviews
More-
what the hell
-
This isn't a very fun movie to watch. You would almost have to be the kind of person that is depicted in this movie to enjoy the movie: a sicko who gets their jollies watching disgusting things happening to other people.
-
good movie
-
electrifying
-
Absolute corruption, in horribly beautiful shots.
-
Yeahh... bout that.
-
Salò was Pasolini’s last work before his death , which was meant to be the first part of his “Trilogy of Death” (in contrast with his “Trilogy of Life”). The film is an adaptation of Sade’s highly controversial book The 120 Days of Sodom. The film takes place in Mussolini’s fascist Italy, where four men of power kidnap various teens to set a series of orgys and sadistic activities in a big mansion.
Salò is a commentary on fascism and the abuse of power which Pasolini showcases with the four fascist protagonists. At the beginning of the film, these four characters (Duke, Bishop, Magistrate and President) unify their rotten family trees marrying each other’s daughters, and after that, they start…
-
This week Forest and Cory share their thought on the films Salo and The Entity, in a rather "rape-tastic" edition of Slaughter Film that is sure to shock and amaze.
Also, the guys ponder such ideas that have plagued mankind since the beginning of time. Such as, If you had all the power in the world, would you make everyone eat poop?, If one were to apply themselves, could they freeze a ghost?, and also What the fuck is a book?. All this and Cory celebrates the fact that he will soon be paying off his school loans with "fat ass beer"!
Listen to, and download the podcast at Slaughter Film
Listen to us on iTunes
Like us on Facebook
-
This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.