Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)

Pier Paolo Pasolini s notorious final film, Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom, has been called nauseating, shocking, depraved, pornographic . . . it s also a masterpiece. The controversial poet, novelist, and filmmaker s transposition of the Marquis de Sade s 18th-century opus of torture and degradation to 1944 Fascist Italy remains one of the most passionately debated films of all time, a thought-provoking inquiry into the political, social, and sexual dynamics that define the world we live in.

SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET FEATURES:
New, restored high-definition digital transfer
The End of Salò, a 40-minute documentary about the film s final scene
Salò: Yesterday and Today, a 35-minute documentary featuring interviews with Pier Paolo Pasolini, actor-filmmaker Jean-Claude Biette, and Pasolini s friend Nineto Davoli
Fade to Black, a new short documentary about Salò, featuring interviews with filmmakers Bernardo Bertolucci, Catherine Breillat, and John Maybury
New interviews with set designer Dante Ferretti and filmmaker/film scholar Jean-Pierre Gorin
Optional English-dubbed soundtrack
Theatrical trailer
Optional English subtitles
PLUS: A booklet featuring new essays by Neil Bartlett, Roberto Chiesi, Naomi Greene, Gary Indiana, and Sam Rohdie, and excerpts from Gideon Bachman s on-set diary Product Description

Awful...horrible...disgusting....DO NOT SEE THIS!! Please read on...

Let me start out by saying that I have been a fan of the Criterion Collection for some time. I own a HUGE selection of their titles, and I have the utmost respect for their company. But I must say, I do not see the the so-called "art" in this degrading, awful film. The back of the Criterion box hails this as a "masterpiece"...and for the life of me I cannot imagine what kind of a person could hail this film as such. This is coming from someone who does see the beauty in a movie like "Natural Born Killers" and "Wild at Heart", films that explore extreme violence, but with style and a message. It took everything in me to sit through "Salo"...not just because of the absolutely extreme violence, but because of the nauseating atmosphere it gives off. PLEASE, ONCE YOU SEE THIS MOVIE YOU CANNOT UNSEE IT...AND I PERSONALLY WISH I COULD.

Know that the reason that I wanted to see this movie was because of all the fuss and to say "you know what? It really wasn't all that bad", but it was ALL THAT BAD. It's a horrifying experience to sit through, with no message or truths or beauty of any kind, and I personally will be throwing my copy right in the garbage since I cannot get a refund.

If I could give this movie ZERO stars I would, but amazon allows ONE STAR as the lowest apparently. August 30, 2008

Unbelievable package

This 2nd Criterion release is a serious upgrade from the previous release. I was surprised by the package when I first opened it. It is quite substantial. You get 2 DVDs and a 80 page book that includes photographs and text explaining the history behind the movie. The DVDs sit in a package that is also wrapped with photos from the movie. The video quality also seems like a nice boost from the original that I remember. To date, this is my favorite Criterion release and I hope they continue to release more packages like this. August 28, 2008

The best ever edition of this very difficult film...

At long last!!! Criterion, long a champion of this, arguably the most difficult movie ever made, gives us an edition that makes the movie look better than new. I have purchased every edition of this film from Criterion since the original laserdisc, and this one clearly surpasses every one of the available editions. This is way superior to he Region 2 release by the British Film Institute. The complete package does justice to Pasolini's warped, unflinching vision of the Italian Fascist regime, and is to be recommended to any serious collector of world film.

A WARNING!!! This film will change you. The progression of this film is completely and unabashedly sadistic. If you have never seen it, it is not easy to watch. On the other hand, it shows Pasolini's firm, passionate, unerring hand in realizing material that would have been diminished by a lesser artist.

BRAVO, again, CRITERION! August 28, 2008

Fantastic new transfer!

I have owned an original Criterion copy of this for years but this new transfer puts it to shame. They have remastered it to where it looks like it was just filmed yesterday! The colors are brighter and much more vivid. The audio has also been improved. Criterion has also included an English dubbed track, so if you are like me and don't know the Italian language, you can actually watch the movie and listen to it in English rather than having to sit through two hours of Italian jibber-jabber. There is also a disc two that is just chock full of bonus features, including an interview with the late director. Hats off to Criterion....AGAIN! August 26, 2008

Enough Now

This is going to be a long review, because I feel obligated to answer to all those who have left negative reviews and to point out their weakness on the points.

The first thing to do, is to concede to the negative reviews, several major points. This movie is depraved, sickening, horrifying, violent, disgusting, inhumane, disturbing, nightmarish, and violent. It shows the most despicable images you may ever see. Cannibal Holocaust has nothing on it. Saw and Hostel wish they could be as disturbing or violent, but they just aren't. This movie isn't an enjoyment to watch. It's interesting. It doesn't leave you with a good experience. It leaves you with a sickening feeling in your stomach. You may want to fastforward through scenes, you may want to fast forward through the whole movie. This has a lot of horrible scenes. Everything about the cruelty of this movie is true.

Now here's why the Negative reviews are wrong. Pier Paolo Pasolini wasn't Meir Zarchi (Writer and Director of I Spit On Your Grave) nor was he Ruggero Deodato (director of Cannibal Holocaust). Pier Paolo Pasolini wasn't a exploitation filmmaker. His films weren't about zombies or murderers or psychotics or woman getting revenge. He wrote dramas (Mama Roma, Accatone). He wrote the story christ (The Gospel of St. Matthews). And retold many mythology (Odepus Rex, Medea). He made real films, using realism and other styles of filmmaking to create a reality that showed a world that Italy wanted to deny, a world of pesantry and prostitutes, of gamblers and thugs. Pier Paolo Pasolini wasn't a filmmaker of shock and exploitation, he was a maker of art films, of dramas. He was a novelist, a poet, a columnist. He worked with Bernado Bertolucci, Federico Fellini, some of the greatest foreign filmmakers of his time and of the 20th century. So Salo shouldn't be seen as a filmmaker deciding to make a splatter porn, or torture porn, like Hostel or Saw, but trying to make a statement, since he did it with his entire body of work.

Negative reviews seem to say that this film is wrong. It's not. They want to point out how only sick people would watch this film. But one could say the same thing about The Passion of the Christ. This is a violent film. So was the Passion of the Christ. This is an unpopular stance, how can one--some cocky little person--compare a movie of sadism and violence, with a movie about the Lord and Savior and our redemption, I do so, simply to make a point, that violence is seen in the context in which people know it as. The Passion of the Christ was to make a point about the suffering of the lord for our sins. This movie is the horrid nature of fascism and the dangers of globalization (whether you agree with the views of not, the views exist and are on full display). This movie was a hard movie to watch, just as hard was it to watch The Passion of the Christ, and Apocalyptico, there's not a difference, just a different point. One was made with the idea of showing you a culture that once existed and a story you all knew, the other used a form of horror that a dying breed witnessed and understood, and put it out there for you to consume and view, to understand the true horrorifying possibilities.

Watch it at your own peril. It's a horrifying movie. You won't get those images out of your mind for at least a few days. This movie will effect you. It will make you think. I'm not sure if it's worth the money, but it's definitely worth the view.
August 26, 2008

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