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Movies / On DVD / Salo, Or The 120 Days of Sodom
Salo, Or The 120 Days of Sodom

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Salo, Or The 120 Days of Sodom (1975)

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Reviews Counted:21

Fresh:15

Rotten:6

Average Rating:6.3/10

Runtime: 1 hr 56 mins

Genre: Foreign Films

Synopsis: Pier Paolo Pasolini was a celebrated poet, writer, and all-around intellectual, but it was his maverick, controversial filmmaking that distinguished him as an influential artistic force. The... Pier Paolo Pasolini was a celebrated poet, writer, and all-around intellectual, but it was his maverick, controversial filmmaking that distinguished him as an influential artistic force. The director's last film, 120 DAYS OF SODOM, an adaptation of the Marquis de Sade's 18th century novel, remains his most notorious (and most censored) due to its scenes of graphic rape and torture of adolescents. Pasolini relocates the novel's horrific abuses from France to the final days of Mussolini's reign, effectively rendering a grim portrait of the degradation of the human body and spirit beneath Fascist and Nazi rule. [More]

Starring: Paolo Bonacelli, Giorgio Cataldi, Umberto P. Quinavalle, Aldo Valletti

Starring: Paolo Bonacelli, Giorgio Cataldi, Umberto P. Quinavalle, Aldo Valletti, Caterina Boratto

Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini

Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini
Composer: Ennio Morricone

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Aug 26, 2008

[DVD Details]
 
 
  • 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.
  • Source: Image Entertainment Inc.
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    Reviews for Salo, Or The 120 Days of Sodom

    • T-Meter Critics
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    1 - 20 (sorted by source)
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    No review available.

    comment Comment
    07/30/02
    Philip Martin
    Philip Martin
    Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

    Grim and pointless in equal measure.

    Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
    01/01/00
    Michael Thomson
    Michael Thomson
    BBC

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

    Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
    10/23/07
    Jonathan Rosenbaum
    Jonathan Rosenbaum
    Chicago Reader
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    A difficult film to watch, but one that forces you to think

    Full Review Source: Cinematic Reflections | comment Comment
    12/07/03
    Derek Smith
    Derek Smith
    Cinematic Reflections

    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.

    Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | comment Comment
    07/11/09
    Cole Smithey
    Cole Smithey
    ColeSmithey.com

    No review available.

    comment Comment
    07/24/05
    Emanuel Levy
    Emanuel Levy
    EmanuelLevy.Com

    As disturbing as it set out to be. This may not be an enjoyable experience but it is definitely an experience.

    Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
    02/13/01
    Kim Newman
    Kim Newman
    Empire Magazine

    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.

    Full Review Source: ESplatter | comment 4 Comments
    08/27/08
    Steve Biodrowski
    Steve Biodrowski
    ESplatter

    No review available.

    comment Comment
    07/02/04
    Jake Euker
    Jake Euker
    F5 (Wichita, KS)

    In all honesty it's a terrible, terrible experience -- but give the guy credit: It's certainly unique.

    Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
    01/20/05
    Christopher Null
    Christopher Null
    Filmcritic.com

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Mike Bracken's Horror Films | comment Comment
    02/13/01
    Mike Bracken
    Mike Bracken
    Mike Bracken's Horror Films

    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.

    Full Review Source: Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC) | comment Comment
    05/14/08
    Ken Hanke
    Ken Hanke
    Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

    I was more intellectually engaged than offended while watching it.

    Full Review Source: MovieMartyr.com | comment Comment
    03/05/02
    Jeremy Heilman
    Jeremy Heilman
    MovieMartyr.com

    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.

    Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
    05/09/05
    Vincent Canby
    Vincent Canby
    New York Times

    For Salò, a film genuinely concerned with the nature and power of misanthropy, Pasolini’s murder is a conclusive action; it is an example of martyrdom.

    Full Review Source: Not Coming to a Theater Near You | comment Comment
    02/24/04
    Rumsey Taylor
    Rumsey Taylor
    Not Coming to a Theater Near You

    Shocking film.

    Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
    06/15/05
    Dennis Schwartz
    Dennis Schwartz
    Ozus' World Movie Reviews

    A film from a text which single-handedly defined the term 'unfilmable'

    Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
    08/24/01
    Shane Burridge
    Shane Burridge
    rec.arts.movies.reviews

    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.

    Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
    08/25/08
    Eric Henderson
    Eric Henderson
    Slant Magazine
    N/R

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
    10/18/08
    Time Out

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

    Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
    10/23/07
    TV Guide's Movie Guide
     
     
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