Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)

Movie
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)

1975 | Drama | Horror | War

117 mins

In World War II Italy, four fascist libertines round up nine adolescent boys and girls and subject them to one hundred and twenty days of physical, mental and sexual torture.



Produced by United Artists
Director Pier Paolo Pasolini
Writer Pier Paolo Pasolini
Cast Paolo Bonacelli, Giorgio Cataldi and Umberto Paolo Quintavalle

Main Image Courtesy: To Hollywood and Beyond Wiki - Fandom.
Images And Data Courtesy Of: United Artists.
This content (including text, images, videos and other media) is published and used in accordance with Fair Use.

Added By

Andy K

Added this item on Feb 8, 2018

Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975) Reviews & Ratings (10)
9-10
20.0% (2)
7-8
40.0% (4)
5-6
0.0% (0)
3-4
40.0% (4)
1-2
0.0% (0)

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Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975) reviews from people you don't follow
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Leigh J (71 KP) rated

Nov 10, 2019 (Updated Nov 10, 2019)  
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)
1975 | Drama, Horror, War
Does Salo stand for Boring?!
Contains spoilers, click to show
Salo, based on the book called "100 Days of Sodom" by Marquis de Sade, is about 4 men in positions of power (The Duke, The Bishop, The Masgistrate and The President) who kidnap a large group of girls and boys and subject them to severe abuse, torture and even murder; just to, well, get their deviant rocks off basically. The cruel and sadistic abuse soon builds to a cresendo of sickening torture and murder.
I went into Salo VERY nervous; I'd read the Book so had a good idea of what was coming, and especially so as this Movie is always on those "sickest Movies ever" lists, and is almost always very near the #1 spot. Rarely does it ever take the crown though, and after seeing Salo, I understand why. It's so boring!! It's very diagloue heavy, which if done right makes a Movie engaging and compelling. If done wrong, as is the case with Salo, it becomes a tedious chore. Unfortunately for Salo, I was so bored with the pointless drivel that when it eventually did get to the shocking parts, I was over it and not as shocked as I really should have been. I mean, it was bad (two words: poop banquet) but I was left thinking "all that hype and waffle... for this?!" Definitely overrated. The small saving grace of this Movie was a bunch of Prostitutes, ironically. They were telling stories of their own deviancies; I found their stories shocking and they made me sit up and pay attention, some stories being more shocking than what we were seeing. I found those Women disgustingly wonderful and able to actually make something out of the literal crap-show that was Salo. I would only recommend Salo to the die hard "Sick Movie" fans (and that's for the sole purpose of ticking it off your list) and Cinema buffs because the Cinematography is quite nice. Other than that, it would make a fantastic sleep aid!
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Hari Nef recommended (curated)

 
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)
1975 | Drama, Horror, War

"I didn’t know there were films that represented the things represented in this film. I didn’t know you could do that. People didn’t think you could do that when this film came out. I always ask myself: how macabre can we go, how graphic can we go, how dark can we go. And the commitment of these actors to the horror that they’re subjected to in this film—you can’t fake that stuff; it’s happening. This nudity is happening, this scatological stuff . . . I don’t know how much of that stuff was happening, but it’s just pure terror and pure excess. There’s also something unwittingly seductive about the beautiful, heightened elements of the film. There aren’t many films that communicate the dangers and trespasses of fascism better than this one. The terror is not in some externalized war story, it’s something that is very domestic and very tangible. You can’t forget a film like Salò, and the shock and the horror of it make such an effective medium for its serious political themes. I think it kind of shares that with Assassination Nation."

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Gaspar Noe recommended (curated)

 
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)
1975 | Drama, Horror, War

"Then I got into film school at the age of 17. Because I was young, the day I turned 18 my mother wanted me to see [Pier Paolo] Pasolini’s Salò. She said now you are old enough to see a precise portrayal of human cruelty. Maybe because my parents escaped Argentina during the dictatorship to avoid ending up in a torture camp like their friends ended up, she had a particular concern about the portrayal of human cruelty and torture. So she said, “You want to know how bad life can turn? Come with me and see this film.” And I saw it. And I know that movie stuck to my mind for, like, 12 years in a very precise, shocking way. And I never felt, for 12 years, the need to re-watch it. I said it was great to see it, but I was not ready to admit the perception of how bad people can be. It’s those very hot and cold — how do you say the people who study insects? -– entomologists. Sometimes you feel almost like an entomologist describing the life of ants. But the vision is sharp. The lesson is sharp. And also what I like about the movie is that, although the movie is about masters and victims, Pasolini — he’s not on the side of any. He’s just — like a dark situation, sharing the pain of one, or the dark joy, or the dirty joy, I don’t know. It’s almost like they’re above the character that they’re describing and they don’t identify with any particular one. You can also have that in The Battle of Algiers. But in any case, at 18, that’s a very major movie. I think nowadays that’s one of the very major movies in the future of cinema. It’s something strong that has not been copied in any way since. And that’s why, in my movie, I wanted to put Pasolini’s Salò poster above the bed, just to remind me that whatever I will do, my movie cannot shock, because of some people before us who made these extremely daring movies that really shocked their time. When people tell me I’m provocative I know that I’m not at all, compared to these masters of cinema."

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David Zellner recommended (curated)

 
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)
1975 | Drama, Horror, War

"This coming-of-age tale is near and dear to me, since my brother and I were featured extras in it while on a family trip to Italy. Our parts were cut in the end, and being toddlers we didn’t remember much, but it seemed like fun at the time and craft services was amazing."

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Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975) reviews from people you don't follow
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Christophe Honore recommended (curated)

 
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)
1975 | Drama, Horror, War

"Perhaps that which we called modernity in Europe died here, in this film in ruins. In any case, modern cinema certainly did. Afterward, we had to make do with the shadow that film cast."

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David Cross recommended (curated)

 
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)
1975 | Drama, Horror, War

"Easily, without hesitation, the most difficult, and disturbing movie I’ve ever seen. I knew after I watched it a second time (mostly to verify the feelings it instilled in me the night before when I initially watched it) that that would be the last time I ever saw it. In a culture crammed with “shocksploitation” movies that are really pornographic in their violence and depravity but empty of any symbolism or real meaning (Human Centipede anyone?), Salo is as bleak and depressing a movie for it’s “Banality of Evil” truth that permeates every moment. There’s no escape. This is the world we’ve created for ourselves."

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Bertrand Bonello recommended (curated)

 
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)
1975 | Drama, Horror, War

"The most horrible creations of the 20th century are fascism and Nazism, and the most beautiful one is cinema. There isn’t a film that better displays the fascination of fascism. How can the human brain be disturbed to the point of getting that enthralled by violence? The junction of the best and the worst of the 20th century – between History and Cinema."

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Ali Abbasi recommended (curated)

 
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)
1975 | Drama, Horror, War

"This is one of the most beautiful movies ever made. Even with the atrocities and torture, it has real texture and an aesthetic aspect to it. Even the shit looks special. Pasolini is a very dear person for me. You have people who are Christian filmmakers or left-wing filmmakers or liberal filmmakers, but then you have a person like him, just a gay leftist who made the best Bible movie ever. I think that says something about how he could catapult himself into these big political discussions in a way that not everyone can do. If Paul Greengrass made this movie, you would get something that would be interesting politically, but you wouldn’t get any kind of texture or beauty. So that’s what I really admire about Pasolini, that in the midst of all this torture and sadism the movie is still very beautiful and very unique."

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