The film Salò is set in Fascist-occupied Italy in 1944. It tells the story of what happens when a Duke, a Bishop, a Magistrate and a President take 18 adolescent boys and girls captive and travel to a remote palace. What follows is one of the most extreme sociopolitical criticisms ever committed to film. Based on the book 120 Days of Sodom by the Marquis de Sade, the four wealthy men spend the next four months exposing their helpless captives to extreme violence, sadism, sexual and mental torture. Wiki’s matter-of-fact summation of the film’s debut is laughingly blunt:

Because of its scenes depicting intensely graphic violence, sadism and sexual depravity, the film was extremely controversial upon its release, and remains banned in several countries.

Although the movie is not generally categorized as a horror film, Salò was named the 65th scariest film ever made by the Chicago Film Critics Association in 2006. It’s also the subject of an article in The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural. Even spookier — Salò was the director’s last movie: He was mysteriously murdered after making the film.

While Salò′s 1975 premiere created shock waves, connoisseurs of director Pier Paolo Pasolini’s work might have been less shocked – the director’s earliest films were full of controversial content that found Pasolini at odds with government officials in Italy. His first efforts also displayed the unusual methods and preoccupations that would define his cinematic oeurve: the use of non-professional actors; an empathetic preoccupation with impoverished characters and settings; and a poetic understanding of the sacred nature of images. Pasolini was also the author of 25 novels and half-a-dozen books of poetry.

This 1966 episode of the French TV series Cinema of Our Time features an interview with Pasolini talking about his first films, offering illuminating insights regarding poetry, cinema, politics, aesthetics, philosophy and class.

“Pasolini: The Rebel”

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