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.
Director
Cast
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Paolo Bonacelli
the Duke
Aldo Valletti
the President
Dorit Henke
Female Victim
Hélène Surgère
Signora Vaccari
Giorgio Cataldi
the Bishop
Caterina Boratto
Signora Castelli
Other Reviews
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isakopt
The most deranged movie I ever saw. It should be illegal everywhere considering some of the actors were underage and were fully nude on screen. And the director had relations with minors as well. This is a legal CP.
shaban
Anyone in a sane state of mind at the reading table: "This is illegal."
Pasolini: "Fuck the hell out of here, you pussy!"
Stepping into Pasolini's filmography in the film considered his most audacious and provocative, I am surprised I didn't get the profound shock everyone advocates for, in favor or against it. Sure, the perverted situations the characters go through here are sick, but if we think of unquestionable ruling and the power that comes with it, it won't take us long to imagine this scenario. So it's easier than it may look to get aboard this film. Pasolini touches a crazy but genuine part of the demented mind of humans. Yet, although his plot is not a "sick sadistic joke," as some refer to it, the movie itself suffers from a heavy lean on the shock value. That is, Pasolini goes overboard with the repetition of the scenes in the hopes of hugely impacting the audience. So much so that it leaves the impression that the film is an excuse for him to bring to life some of the most twisted perversions the human mind can imagine and throw them all out there with no sense of restraint.
What I'm going to suggest may sound banal, but hear me out. I compare 'Salo' to Michael Bay's 'Transformers' movies. Their subject is different, but they are, in the same way, being unrespectful to the story. They are very similar in the way they "drain" the story to display brainless action spectacle, in the case of 'Transformers' and insane fetish extravaganza and beyond, in the case of 'Salo.' Pasolini hammers you over the head continuously with filthy scene after filthy scene suffocating the philosophy. I judge 'Salo' from a filmmaking standpoint, not on the philosophy Passolini touches here. The philosophy is there. It is mind-consuming and all, and we can stay and discuss it for hours. But I think that judging movies by the concept they build from, or simpler said, on what they say, is a mistake. If it weren't, then what's the point of making so many Pinocchio films per se? They all tell the same story. But we don't like them the same. And we don't like them the same because the way they're telling the story is different. It's not the "what," it's the "how." 'Salo' may work as a perfect piece for a group discussion as for what it says, but as for what concerns compelling filmmaking, the film is taken hostage by its theme.
There is no characterization here. Pasolini strips his characters of any authentic line of dialogue. The characters here work as vessels for Pasolini to express his thoughts on the themes he touches; power, dignity, etc. But the way he does that is just brute cinematic language. There is no eloquence in all of that, no intuition in between - nothing to read into it. There is a moment here when one of the girls says, "Kill me, but don't dishonor me." That's straight-up, Passolini teaching you the decent way for living your life. I don't appreciate this type of cinema. What I liked here was the framing of some of the shots. Some of them look aesthetically beautiful, almost like paintings. But again, it doesn't matter with the writing being this bad. Huge letdown!
user239470
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104487721197612999596
isakopt
The most deranged movie I ever saw. It should be illegal everywhere considering some of the actors were underage and were fully nude on screen. And the director had relations with minors as well. This is a legal CP.
shaban
Anyone in a sane state of mind at the reading table: "This is illegal."
Pasolini: "Fuck the hell out of here, you pussy!"
Stepping into Pasolini's filmography in the film considered his most audacious and provocative, I am surprised I didn't get the profound shock everyone advocates for, in favor or against it. Sure, the perverted situations the characters go through here are sick, but if we think of unquestionable ruling and the power that comes with it, it won't take us long to imagine this scenario. So it's easier than it may look to get aboard this film. Pasolini touches a crazy but genuine part of the demented mind of humans. Yet, although his plot is not a "sick sadistic joke," as some refer to it, the movie itself suffers from a heavy lean on the shock value. That is, Pasolini goes overboard with the repetition of the scenes in the hopes of hugely impacting the audience. So much so that it leaves the impression that the film is an excuse for him to bring to life some of the most twisted perversions the human mind can imagine and throw them all out there with no sense of restraint.
What I'm going to suggest may sound banal, but hear me out. I compare 'Salo' to Michael Bay's 'Transformers' movies. Their subject is different, but they are, in the same way, being unrespectful to the story. They are very similar in the way they "drain" the story to display brainless action spectacle, in the case of 'Transformers' and insane fetish extravaganza and beyond, in the case of 'Salo.' Pasolini hammers you over the head continuously with filthy scene after filthy scene suffocating the philosophy. I judge 'Salo' from a filmmaking standpoint, not on the philosophy Passolini touches here. The philosophy is there. It is mind-consuming and all, and we can stay and discuss it for hours. But I think that judging movies by the concept they build from, or simpler said, on what they say, is a mistake. If it weren't, then what's the point of making so many Pinocchio films per se? They all tell the same story. But we don't like them the same. And we don't like them the same because the way they're telling the story is different. It's not the "what," it's the "how." 'Salo' may work as a perfect piece for a group discussion as for what it says, but as for what concerns compelling filmmaking, the film is taken hostage by its theme.
There is no characterization here. Pasolini strips his characters of any authentic line of dialogue. The characters here work as vessels for Pasolini to express his thoughts on the themes he touches; power, dignity, etc. But the way he does that is just brute cinematic language. There is no eloquence in all of that, no intuition in between - nothing to read into it. There is a moment here when one of the girls says, "Kill me, but don't dishonor me." That's straight-up, Passolini teaching you the decent way for living your life. I don't appreciate this type of cinema. What I liked here was the framing of some of the shots. Some of them look aesthetically beautiful, almost like paintings. But again, it doesn't matter with the writing being this bad. Huge letdown!
user239470
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