Pier Paolo Pasolini’sfascist parable retools theMarquis de Sade’sextreme avant-garde text and relocates the horror to Nazi-occupied Italy in 1944. Few films have generated the kind of controversySalò, or the 120 Days of Sodomhas over the years. The premise involves The Libertines, a cabal of despots who round up a group of teenagers, forcing them to participate in stomach-churning acts of degradation and depravity.Salòskews so often into bad-taste territory it is easy to overlook the factPasolini had a politically motivated reason for making the filmin the first place. He wanted to express his disgust at the modern world and how corporate takeovers and mass marketing are responsible for the erasure ofculture.The story is a tough one to sit through but does work as both a meditation on cruelty and power and is a horror film that would even offend the likes ofRuggeroDeodato(Cannibal Holocaust).
There are copious amounts of sex, torture, and degradation in this movie. Young men and women are rounded up and must submit to unimaginable cruelty, including eye-gouging, rape, murder and coprophagia. In terms of style,Salòis somany things: arthouse, political horror, and exploitation. Or in a nutshell: a war movie told through a bloody Euroschlock lens.
What Is ‘Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom’ About?
It is 1944 to 1945 in a tranquil, calm, beautiful part of Italy called Salò. It is under Nazi occupation and Salò is the power center. A quartet of Nietzsche-quoting sadists identifying as The Libertines are devising a horrific plan. The President (Aldo Valletti), The Duke (Paolo Bonacelli), The Bishop (Giorgio Cataldi), and The Magistrate (Umberto P. Quintavalle)round up teenage boys and girls and force them to submit 120 Days of Sodom. Originally planned as the first installment in Pier Paolo Pasolini’sTrilogy of Death,Salòis broken up into a three-act structure: The Circle of Obsessions, The Circle of Shit, and The Circle of Blood. To The Libertines, nothing is more contagious than evil and fascism is the ultimate anarchy.Each circle/story is presented by an aging sex worker, relating a taboo-breaking tale of her sexual experiences andintercut with scenes of the extremes of sexual psychopathy and sadism.The lines separating the moral fiber from unadulterated savagery collapse and the teenagers' bodies only exist to feed the morbid machinery of authoritarianism.
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Avant-garde extremism prevails, and Marquis De Sade is quoted verbatim. There are no boundaries to The Libertines' flamboyant evil. The victims are a faceless herd andthe horror directed at them is an analogy of how we are collectively depersonalized by war, stripped of identity, safety, and autonomyby conglomerates, commerce, pornography, and other Hegemonic structures facilitating fascist thinking.The victims are resigned to their appalling fate and do little to end their suffering. Various scenes inSalòrepresent mass-market control and the commercialization of food, sex, and the physical body.
Why Was ‘Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom’ So Controversial?
Salòwas controversial for several reasons,Shortly beforeSalò’srelease Pier Paolo Pasoliniwas murderedandSalòended up being banned in a number of countries.The director was killed after being beaten badly, run over by a car, and his testicles crushed and set on fire.A young hustler was apprehended and confessed to the killing, only to later withdraw his statement. Pasolini identified as a Marxist, radical thinker, and atheist who had come under fire in both right and left-leaning politics for having an outspoken, slightly contradictory nature. What makesSalòmore disconcerting though, considering the film’s graphic content, isPasolini’s past sexual behavior towards underage boys. It makes one wonder if Pasolini had another, darker ulterior motive for makingSalò. The litany of horrors and level of dehumanization in the movie are certainly triggering factors and viewers with a delicate sensibility definitely should avoid watching it.
The most controversial component is the horror inSalòthat is happening to teenagers and maybe this could be the primary reason it remains so reviled today. Censorship is insidious and there are various reasons for suppressing art. But surprisingly,the British Board of Film Classification’s James Ferman defendedSalò’sartistic merit and validity as an important work of artwhile acknowledging the distressing sections. “One of the most disgusting films ever to be seen by the board, yet its purpose is deeply serious,”Ferman was quoted as saying in a BBFC case study.“It wants us to be appalled at the atrocities of which human nature is capable when absolute power is wielded corruptly.”
Is Pier Paolo Pasolini’s ‘Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom’ Art?
Pasolini laid the groundwork for the likes ofGasper Noé,Virginie Despentes,Wes Craven,Michael Haneke, andJohn Waters— all artists and writers who consistently push the envelope and frequently shock with their efforts. The film has real value and merit if the viewer can look beyond the hardcore elements and shocking imagery. Pasolini was renowned as a writer, activist, and filmmaker who completed 13 feature-length movies and got his break on scripting duties forFederico Fellini. The director was attempting to tackle the advent of soft-core pornography emerging in the early ’70s and his own frustrations with the new counterculture liberation and modern politics. Pasolini was also a survivor of World War II, traumatized following the death of his brother and trying to exorcise painful memories through art.
WithSalò, he conducted his own investigations into power, how these structures corral and control the population, and ultimately crush or destroy them if you disobey or question them.Many readings of the film point outhow the victims' apathy reflects communities/individuals under fascism —most of the teenagers' character development is purposely thin.Salòmay provoke revulsion in the viewer, but it is undeniably beautiful and a well-made movie, with lavish production values, costumes, interesting performances, dark humor, and sharp dialogue.Salòis art first, thevideo nastyafter, making it much more than just a shock movie.
Salò’score allegory addresses the people who live in the shadows of Fascism. The point Pasolini was attempting to relate with Salò was how power structures define humanity in uncertain times and shape us in one way or the other. We either become perpetrators and align ourselves with a culture of violence, or we submit to its appetite and hope we’ll be strong enough to withstand its horrors.
Salo, Or 120 Days of Sodomis available to watch on the Criterion Collection.
