Films/DVD Asylum

Definitely not a first-date movie ....

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In Reply to: RE: Salo posted by Wendell Narrod on November 13, 2008 at 10:22:52

I saw it on my own in Rome in the mid-80's. Lots of couples left at various stages, most during the scene where the special effects team demonstrated their skills with chocolate.

I wouldn't agree with the description 'a sick, perverted film', though. To me, Pasolini was undoubtedly a great artist: read his poems, novels and essays, see The Gospel According to St Matthew and his earlier work, before he got to the folksy but dire 'tales' films - the Decameron, Canterbury, Arabian Nights.

Salo was his unblinking depiction of the corruption and depravity of power, particularly in the form of Fascism. His model was the ambitious, all-but-unreadable 120 Nights of Sodom by the ultimate cynic, the Marquise de Sade.

That said, I've never felt the urge to see it again, haunting though it is. However, I'm sure I will one day, if only see if it shocks me as much as it did then.

In my mental film library it's filed alongside Claude Lannsman's Shoah: essential, unmissable, probably once-in-a-lifetime. Like visiting Auschwitz.

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