Pier Paolo Pasolini: Saló o le 120 giornate di Sodoma

Pier Paolo Pasolini at the Bienale

No long ago I was writing a summer telegram from Venice, noticing that this bellisima city was waiting for the Cinema Bienale that will begin next August 30 th . We already know some details about the event, and among all of them, the most significant is the great role that the legendary Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini will play, with the exhibition of a documental with unpublished scenes from his polemical film, Saló or the 120 days of Sodom.

I have never been a great fan of Pasolini’s work, but I have to admit that very few movies have impacted me so much as the recreation of the abject and repugnant crimes committed with innocent youths by the fascist officials in the mansion of the North Italian town of Saló . The violence is so evident that it is really hard to understand that the film contains a moralizing and antifascist intention beyond the repugnance caused by the terrible scenes. In fact, the movie is habitual in the multiple internet lists about the most disturbing films ever made, appearing among legends of the gore cinema like Cannibal Holocaust or Squadron 731 (Men behind the sun)

With a cruel and sadist atmosphere, the film is a neverending succession of scenes of sadism and physical and psychical torture, including depravations such as sodomy or coprophagy, which will surely spoil the Bienale to many spectators more used to the glamour of the Venetian show.

A Bienale, by the way, that I will not follow. I know that many critics will pan me for saying this, but I have to confess that, if I want an Italian director to disturb me, I choose Dario Argento. Ciao.