“Salo” is most certainly one of the most controversial films of all time. With an sight sensitive to horrific imagery, it is easy to topple into a trap and behold the imagery for only what it is, as opposed to what it represents. For, the power of “Salo” is to be seen in the relentless metaphor that it contains. Once one knows a couple of basic hints it becomes far easier to peel off the layers of disgust to assure the lawful essence of this distinguished film.
The basic characters plunge into several archetypes:
1) The 4 Men: relate the fascist rule that dominated Italy during the Nazi rule. Given more power than they should have, they are verbalize to savage the people they rule over with no respect for the humanity that they have been given control over.
Buy,Download, Or Stream Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom - Criterion Collection! Click Here
2) The teens: the victims of this fascist control (the Jews of the Holocaust, the Italian people, etc.) who speedy lose all their dignity and rights under such savage treatment. Rush appears to be only a couple of steps away and seems quite easy; yet, for these individuals, it is impossible.
3) The madams: The politicians that (although not participating directly in most of the exploitation of the populace) provide the direction and desire to commit such crimes to humanity. Easily recognizable, they are unprejudiced a step below the 4 men in the line of power.
4) The soldiers: the populace of Germany/Italy who allowed these atrocities to go on. Witnessing the entire position as it escalates (grand like it did in Nazi Germany), these people topple under the Nazi spell. For them, it is impossible to sympathize with individuals that have been so debased, so no guilt is felt on their portion for the crimes they are alive to in.
5) The piano player: the populace of Germany/Italy who allow the atrocities to go on, but eventually become aware of the horrors that they have helped cause. Inevitably, rather than philosophize their guilt externally to change the system, these individuals internalize it upon themselves.
Buy,Download, Or Stream Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom - Criterion Collection! Click Here
Buy,Download, Or Stream Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom - Criterion Collection! Click Here
6) The viewer: as an individual watching this movie, the viewer is being asked by Pasolini what side they are going to plunge one: the soldier or the piano player? Are we to feel sympathy for these violated teens or are we to peer at their spot with the same tranquil lack of interest as the soldiers?
Thus, Pasolini has created a mountainous allegory that can be seen in today’s light, as well as those of WW II. Essentially, these archetypes are applicable to most any area in the world where individuals are being exploited…and this is Pasolini’s message. As individuals outside the loop (viewers) we maintain the ability to evaluate the scene and react in a map that can alleviate or enhance the scenario, it is up to us to settle.
A word about the imagery: This too is an critical aspect of “Salo;” for, in its relentless onslaught, Pasolini is trying to mumble us something. Once upon a time imagery like that of the Holocaust in WWII was pleasurable of unsightly the populace of the world (as it was Trusty) ; however, considerable of humanity has become desensitized to this. Pasolini is trying to offend us with the imagery of this movie in order to parallel how we SHOULD be offended by the imagery of the Holocaust. He is showing us these atrocities without “Hollywoodizing” them (try “Schindler’s List” for that) …these are images we cannot screech and they are based on reality. Humanity is safe of mountainous fright and through the imagery of “Salo,” Pasolini is forcing us to retort a side of our species that we have lost see of over time.
Buy,Download, Or Stream Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom - Criterion Collection! Click Here
In this fashion, “Salo” is an exploration on the psychology of mass fascism. Not only are the soldiers placed under the spell due to the debasement of the people that are being exploited, but the exploited individuals are turned against themselves to continue to live (one particular scene is “Salo” articulates this perfectly) . Promises of “freedom” that are never delivered also helps to hold these individuals in line. This mass psychology is evident throughout “Salo;” for, there are immense chances to attempt dash, but all are kept in line with minimal trouble.
Finally, a quickly word about the ending (I will retain this vague so as not to spoil it for those that have not seen it) : Pasolini is telling us that, in the extinguish, we have become so desensitized to the horrors that surround us that we are all inevitably the soldier archetype. No longer able to leer the suffering that surrounds us, we are dancing correct along with the 4 Men…although perhaps not directly keen, we gaze all that is going on and encourage allow it to happen through our lack of action. Pasolini is describing humanity’s fate here and forcing us to confront it so that, perhaps, something can be done to change it.
This movie is one that is NOT recommended to potential viewers unless they explore this movie for the imagery it represents. Contrary to what many will mumble you, this movie is NOT a dismal comedy and is, indeed, as shaded and relentless as they advance. Again, the imagery is RELENTLESS…be prepared if you resolve to gape this; after all, the imagery is only a portion as disturbing as what it represents.
Hope that helps…
Yes, ladies and gentlemen. The rotten film, Salo or the 120 Days of Sodom, has been reissued by Criterion in a special 2 disc edition. Criterion initally achieve out this DVD when they were tranquil doing laserdiscs and DVD simaltaneously (its DVD spine number was 17), and the fresh DVD was sparkling mighty barebones and not a particularly superior transfer of the film (on either the laserdisc version or the DVD version) . Now it’s being released in a deluxe edition. What about the film itself? Is it worth picking up? Is it truly disturbing? Is it a work of art? Yes, yes, and yes.
Pasolini made this film in 1975 correct after his “trilogy of life” films, which included The Decameron, The Cantebury Tales, and Arabian Nights (aka Thousand and One Nights) . Those films were very happy and impish, and did quite well at the box office. Pasolini went into a deep depression afterwards, feeling that all his films were bogus and compromised, and dwelling out to gain a film, as he called it, “undigestable”. Salo was that film.
It is based on the Marquis de Sade’s book, which was written in 1789 but not published until 1935. De Sade’s book, while moving at first, soon becomes insensible and repetitive, outlining one sexual abberation after another. It’s not erotic, in fact, it’s quite disgusting, as most of the sexual behavior concentrates on coprophilia. Pasolini’s film is remarkable better than the unique, as Pasolini had great more to say with his film. He changed the unique setting from 18th century France to the last days of Mussolini’s government, which had station up shop in Salo, an sincere province in Italy. Four fascists round up 8 teenage boys and 8 teenage girls, haul them off to a secluded villa, and degrade them and themselves for the duration. Pasolini here conventional the unusual as a exploration of consumer culture, fascism, communism, perversion, torture (many of the scenes in this film have an eerie similarity to the Abu Ghrab prison photos taken a few years ago), and absolute power. Pasolini had said “he wanted to construct a film without hope”, and he did. Pasolini expounded upon de Sade’s ideas and made a startling film, one that has colossal power, even today. Pasolini was murdered shortly after completing this film in dark and serene controversial circumstances, and somehow, that contributes to the bleakness and opppressiveness of the film.
The film is as cruel, execrable, controversial, and bleak as you’ve heard. It totally lives up to its reputation. It has graphic scene of sexuality (despite abundant nudity, the film isn’t erotic at all, but icy and numb), torture (the final third is entitled the circle of blood), and coprophilia (the middle third is entitled the circle of s***) . But it isn’t an exploitation film at all. It was made with the best crew in Italy at the time. The film was shot by Tonino Delli Colli, who shot Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns. It was produced by Alberto Grimaldi, who also produced Leone’s spaghetti westerns and Bertolucci’s Last Tango in Paris. Ennio Morricone scored it, Danilo Donati did the costumes, and Nino Bargali edited it. It was a legitamite production, and there was quite a lot of press surrounding it at the time of its release, as Pasolini was a expansive name in Italy and international cinema at the time. Finding the film in its uncut beget has been notoriously difficult over the years. It’s been banned in many countries (it’s composed banned in Australia today), and even the DVD editions aren’t complete. The modern Criterion version and this version have omitted a scene where one of the fascists reads a poem from Gottfried Benn, which was included in the British Film Institute version. This 25 second scene has been posted on Criterion’s website, and having seen it, it doesn’t really add anything to the film. For all intended purposes, the version we have here is Pasolini’s final sever.
I saw this recently in an extraordinarily appealing print in NYC, and the patrons in the theater didn’t say a word. Some left. Most of them stayed, and were truly timid afterwards. Some tried to laugh this film off at the beginning; by the waste of the film, they weren’t laughing. They couldn’t. This film was made in 1975, and it tranquil has the power to shake you to the core.
The DVD transfer is generous. It’s as suitable as the print I saw at the IFC Theater. The extras are quite fabulous, especially the documentary Salo: Yesterday and Today. It includes staunch footage of Pasolini shooting the final scenes of the film (the torture scenes), and it’s actually very difficult to glance this slow the scenes footage. Even though one may judge it gives you a sense of relief that “it was all a movie”, it doesn’t. The footage (which is in grainy gloomy and white, 16mm footage) has a power all its absorb. There is another documentary called Travel to Murky in which Bernardo Bertolucci and Catherine Breillat talk about Salo. Bertolucci’s thoughts on the film are particularly striking and poignant, as he was astronomical friends with Pasolini as well as an artistic colloborator. The DVD box has one of the most chilling covers in Criterion history, including a gross stop up on the inside, which is astonishingly creepy. It also contains a 90 page booklet with entertaining essays by the sizable, colorful filmmaker Catherine Breillat (who thinks Salo is a masterpiece) and Gary Indiana (who wrote a very well known book about the film) . The only thing about this DVD edition that I object to is the fact that Criterion did not include John Powers’s salubrious essay on the film, which was printed on the laserdisc edition of the film. He said two things about this masterwork that are brilliantly insightful…
“It’s the cruelest, most vulgar, and most intellectually toxic work ever made by a major director. Once seen, it is forever remembered.”
“At a time when movies are routinely called “evil” and “contro-
versial”, Salo not only lives up to these words but makes them feel childishly inadequate”.
It is one of the most disturbing films ever made, on line with Cannibal Holocaust, Ichi the Killer, In a Glass Cage, and Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. It is worth watching and owning.
