In 1944, at the little Italian town of Salo, capital of the fascist, Nazi-puppet Italian Social Republic (1943 - 1945), four civil, powerful men are gathering for an event of unspeakable debauchery. With chilling calmness, they proceed through their decadent celebration - while the brutal humming of bomber planes flying above shakes the rooftops...
"Salo, O Le 120..." is a fictional tale, a loose adaptation of Marquis de Sade's The 120 Days of Sodom (1785 / 1904), set in real, historic fascist Italy near the end of World War II. It's also among the most controversial films ever made.
On the mere surface, not too much seems to be going on in "Salo", except for some
sick meeting that plays out in increasingly uncomfortable ways. But stopping there is like judging the iceberg by its tip.
Technically, it's a flawless production. It's visually elegant, in part due to the beautiful setting in an Italian mansion, and in part due to the analytic, sometimes intrusive camera work, that uses a lot of symmetry and perfect side-shots. The acting is nuanced, precise, and highly intense at times. The dialogue is disturbing, the actions performed are even more disturbing, and the high level of realism is, yes, very disturbing.
Key to unlocking "Salo" is understanding the situation: By the end of 1943, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was already imprisoned, and allied forces had entered Italian main land. In the movie, a group of rich, powerful people with inherent ties to the fascist republic are celebrating their own downfall. The bomber planes are literally above them, signalling the arrival of necessary, violent change. These people have nowhere to go, they know nothing else. Starting a new life is impossible, and would also mean questioning everything that led up to this point. Unable to let go, and trapped by who they are, there's nothing left but to uphold the facade, and go on and on and on, into ultimate darkness...
Director Pier Paolo Pasolini was born in 1922, lived through World War II, was openly homosexual, marxist, and a couple of other things, and became an important intellectual figure of post-war Europe - he certainly had a word or two to say about Nazi Germany, fascist Italy, and "the powers that be".
This movie was clearly born from a strong vision, and it has a message. Nothing in "Salo" is made for the quick effect, everything serves the big, sad, stomach-turning picture. The stunning quality of it, the superbly composed imagery, the cold, detached stylisation, the deliberate, delicate timing, the slow, elaborate, disturbing dialogue, the
shocking dehumanisation, perversion and violence - the utter, devastating cynicism of it all just has to be
obvious to the viewer, as much as the immediate visceral reaction.
This isn't nazisploitation. There's no doubt it's art, and it's on the good side of history. Yes, the cruelty is taken to extreme levels, and it fits the "golden age" time frame of Italian exploitation cinema - but "Salo" really has nothing in common with films like "La Bestia In Calore" (1977) or "L'Ultima Orgia Del III Reich" (1977). Not only is it a far (!) higher quality production, but also at no point does it enjoy or endorse the horrors it portrays. It's not voyeuristic, but painfully voyeuristic. It's not obtrusive, it's consciously indiscreet. It doesn't focus on the action, but on the motivation behind it, the perpetrators, every sad, sickening moment of their fading, fey existence. "Salo" isn't about individuals or story - it's about the psyche, about tolerance and empathy, or, the lack thereof, and how this translates into a system of dominance.
"Salo" might feel just slow on first
contact, but as it progresses, the moderate, sometimes drawn-out pacing takes on a sadistic tone
of its own, matching the content of the film. There's no turning away, it's an ugly, painful demise with a lot of collateral damage, all while an invisible, much bigger power is looming in the air...
When "Salo" is through with you, you'll probably want (at least) a minute of silence. It wasn't made with entertainment value in mind - it's a political and humane statement. It has a flow, it is mesmerizing, and it's a real shocker, but this is actual heavy, profound stuff. If you needed a reminder why you want compassion, not dominance, empathy, not fascism, this movie is a very, very convincing one.
Pier Paolo Pasolini was abducted, tortured and killed in 1975, presumably by political far-right sympathizers. Efforts to fully solve the case are going on to the present day.
Verdict: Stunning. Numbing. 8.5/10
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073650/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sal%C3%B2,_or_the_120_Days_of_Sodom
Trailer video:
video source:
https://archive.org/details/salo-or-the-120-days-of-sodom-1975-trailer
* * *
Want to read another movie review? Click here to see all.
