Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom - Criterion Collection

Before I purchased this film I read the reviews because they were quite polarized and getting grossed out or gratuitous violence isn't a pleasure for me. Since I am sure there are other film lovers similar to myself that may pass on this, I have taken the time to write this and give this film a top rating.
Personally, I considered it a work of art, meaning that it reflected and forecasted where society was going (the film was made in 1975) and indeed where we are at today. What I didn't know until I viewed the supplemental material was that Pasolini was a man of letters and then moved to film. I also didn't know that this was his last film and he was assassinated because of it.
This film could not be made today because we have become politically correct and in the pursuit of the end of offending no one we have used a means of economic and social exiling to silence the voice of the mass media artist.
Last comment is that I didn't realize there was a dubbed english soundtract. Who reads the back of the slipcover?

I'll avoid what surely others have written or said about this film and point out that even in 2008, it's still as shocking and relevant as it was in the '70's. In an age where sex(uality) is used to sell everything (except sex), processed food is revealed to be mostly junk, and the media perpetually amused, SALO is a film both about power, capitalism, and the way in which the human body and mind is degraded when it becomes a commodity.

Though the film is unrelentingly bleak, there's also a black humor running throughout the work, making the whole spectacle that much worse (and mirroring the way in which media today transforms atrocity into banality). From his particular way of shooting to his ideas, Pasolini here found his fury at its full and his voice with utmost clarity...that the film was/is banned for so long speaks to its power, but also its danger.

It is undoubtedly one of the greatest films ever made though it is from its images to ideas a hard one to watch, contemplate, and digest. It is perhaps the world's best political and social horror film, albeit not to everyone's tastes.

You can try to defend this movie all your want, for being misunderstood and wrongly accused of exploitation. But this movie is junk. Maybe it has a great meaning to you, but for a meaning like that to be effective, the movie first has to be good. This film is nowhere near being a great film. Start with the acting..

And if you're watching this specifically to be grossed out, it may not even happen. This film is not as graphic as one may make it seem. It's the overall feeling you get once the movie's over that makes you want to crawl into a hole. Watch Cannibal Holocaust if you want something gut-wrenching. Watch Salo if you enjoy watching 16-year-old boys getting sodomized for 2 hours.

Salo makes one question what really is art and the purpose.Is it to inform and entertain and open our minds and arouse the senses? And then wrap it up in a neat bow and watch it for hours and years to come.Pasolini did not really think that way. You only need to see Salo once and it is scorched in your memory forever. You will have flashbacks, nightmares just feel generally unclean. Salo is a classic example of when you ban something eveyone has to see it, it becomes very hip. I could not imagine bringing up this movie in a dinner conversation. And at this level Pasolini's job is done, what people went through during war the unspeakable things they saw and were forced to do the survivors never forgot and carry that shame and guilt there whole lives,Salo allows you to experience in two hours vicariously.

Salo is a hard film to really give a star rating. If, at about the half hour mark you are not into it, stop watching. The film contains lots of unsettling scenes of forced sodomy upon young boys and girls, the eating of excrement and various tortures and degradations. If you are not willing to see these types of scenes, do not watch the movie. The basic message is that absolute power corrupts absolutely. The story is set in fascist Italy near the end of the war and concerns four men who play out their sadism on unwilling victims. That is basically it, there is a lot of social commentary that can be read into the film and a lot of it is intentional symbolism on the filmaker's part. But really it just comes down to absolute power corrupts. This new Criterion DVD is an excellent presentation; the picture is crisp and clean and contains a second disk of bonus features. This second disk is especially worth seeing as it can enhance ones understanding and appreciation for the film. It contains five featurettes of interviews with many of the people involved as well as outside critical observers who share their interpretations of the film's message. If you choose to watch this film all the way through, spend some time with these supplements as well. Salo is not for everyone but this DVD version is well done.