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Salo (Sal� o le 120 giornate di Sodoma) (1979)

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Top Critics

Average Rating: 6.2/10
Reviews Counted: 25
Fresh: 17 | Rotten: 8

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Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 2
Fresh: 1 | Rotten: 1

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Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 13,359

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Movie Info

Four fascist libertines round up 9 teenages boys and girls and subject them to 120 days of physical, mental and sexual torture.

NC-17, 1 hr. 55 min.

Drama, Horror, Art House & International

Directed By: Pier Paolo Pasolini

In Theaters: Jan 1, 1979 Wide

On DVD: Aug 11, 1998

Water Bearer Films Inc.

Cast

Critic Reviews for Salo (Sal� o le 120 giornate di Sodoma)

All Critics (25) | Top Critics (2) | Fresh (22) | Rotten (8) | DVD (13)

Very hard to take, but in its own way an essential work.

October 23, 2007 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader

| Comment

Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

A perfect example of the kind of material that, theoretically, anyway, can be acceptable on paper but becomes so repugnant when visualized on the screen that it further dehumanizes the human spirit, which is supposed to be the artist's concern.

May 9, 2005 Full Review Source: New York Times

| Comments (3)

Vincent Canby

New York Times

Top Critic

I can't think of a reason in the world that anyone should subject him or herself to this.

January 7, 2012 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid

| Comment

Jeffrey M. Anderson

Combustible Celluloid

Pasolini illustrates his belief that society forces people to conform by making his victims turn on each other, then making the audience complicit. Just by watching, we are voyeurs, and Pasolini calls us out in the movie's final moments.

October 27, 2011 Full Review Source: Scene-Stealers.com

| Comment

Eric Melin

Scene-Stealers.com

A bracing cinematic buzzkill, Sal� will wipe that shit-eating grin right off your face.

October 7, 2011 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine

| Comment

Budd Wilkins

Slant Magazine

By reputation alone, owning Sal� should be enough to impress your cinephilic friends; watching it with them will be whole lot harder.

September 30, 2010 Full Review Source: sbs.com.au

| Comment

Simon Foster

sbs.com.au

Dramatically feral and artistically fertile, "Salo" is a rigorous movie that dares to use the metaphor of torture as a device of utter physical and psychological annihilation for both the victim and the torturer.

July 11, 2009 Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com

| Comment

Cole Smithey

ColeSmithey.com

It's very hard to sit through and offers no insights whatsoever into power, politics, history or sexuality. Nasty stuff.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Time Out

| Comment

Geoff Andrew

Time Out

While it is easy to think of Sal� as simply depraved, it is ultimately a savage plea for humanity

September 19, 2008 Full Review Source: Q Network Film Desk

| Comment

James Kendrick

Q Network Film Desk

Intended to be read as a caustic commentary on the evils of Fascism, Salo is marred by the uneasy perception that Pasolini (rather like purveyors of modern Torture Porn) is simply getting off on the abuse he visualizes with such delight.

August 27, 2008 Full Review Source: ESplatter

| Comments (8)

Steve Biodrowski

ESplatter

Hate ****.

August 25, 2008 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine

| Comment

Eric Henderson

Slant Magazine

Fastidiously attuned to the denial of the comforting release of either eroticism or expulsion, Pasolini's boudoirs of perversion lack De Sade's scarlet hedonism. Quite the opposite, his boners reveal only the presence of spiritual rigor mortis.

August 25, 2008 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine

| Comment

Eric Henderson

Slant Magazine

Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom is one of the most uncomfortable experiences you will have with an arguably classic film.

August 21, 2008 Full Review Source: DVDTalk.com

| Comment

Bill Gibron

DVDTalk.com

There's a sense of pure evil clinging to the film like nothing I've ever experienced. I do not believe this is unintentional, nor do I believe it is pointless.

May 14, 2008 Full Review Source: Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

| Comment

Ken Hanke

Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

The result, despite moments of undeniably brilliant insight, is nearly unwatchable, extremely disturbing, and often literally nauseous.

October 23, 2007 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide

| Comment

TV Guide's Movie Guide

There are absolutely fascinating ways of reading and understanding this Pasolini epic. But would I ever want to watch it again? Probably not.

September 10, 2005 Comment

Dan Fienberg

Zap2it.com

Shocking film.

June 15, 2005 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews

| Comment

Dennis Schwartz

Ozus' World Movie Reviews

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Salo (Sal� o le 120 giornate di Sodoma)

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Salo, or the 120 Days of Solom is not a film you're likely to seek out on your own. You pretty much have to be goaded into seeing it. It's one of the most controversial films ever made, despite the fact that it's all a work of fiction. It's based on true events (actually, the book it's derived from is), but if you

February 3, 2012

Tim Salmons

Super Reviewer

!Only for seasoned film-goers and Criterion Collectors! "I love Sal�, or the 120 Days of Sodom!" No, that shouldn't be any healthy person's reaction to this film. While it is relatively shocking, it's an interesting commentary on fascism and pushes the audience member from cinema-goer to voyeur. Maybe that's not so

August 13, 2011

Austen Rudnick

Super Reviewer

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