Searing Analysis: Unveiling the Depths of Torture Porn and the Absurdist Humour of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s ‘Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom’
I’m taking a little break from werewolf movies this week but I promise to review another one quite soon. This week’s film is about politics and pornography, but then I repeat myself. Today common political kitchen table topics regularly include such wholesome realities as child sex trafficking, actress rape, sex changes for pre-pubescent children, pedo sex islands, hiring porn stars as prostitutes, blowjobs in the oval office, child access to pornography on smart phones, NDA’s and payoffs for silence and consent, priests and young boys, and rape culture in sports. ‘Who is raping who’ is the question of the era. Seems like everyone in power these days are accused of or accusing others of raping someone. These are common political tools of discussion unfortunately. It’s definitely not our grandma’s politics anymore since the Boomer’s era of politics commenced. Everything is left this and right that and you’re this ism and that ism. ‘Which team is the bigger pervert?’ is like a new national and global pastime. But all this does is reveal one simple fact: there are competing bands of powerful perverts on all sides and God only knows what they’re doing when all these master criminal perverts get together and conspire and take unlimited power over others in secret.
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom explores these possibilities directly. Controversially directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini (Arabian Nights, Oedipus Rex, The Canterbury Tales), a self-described “Catholic Marxist,” a poet, philosopher, and filmmaker, explores the lunatic depths of the depravity of those in power in his film about four Supreme Leaders who intermarry with each other’s daughters in order to assume full legal control over all of Fascist Italy and begin to live out all their sadistic power fantasies over a selection of teenage boys and girls from all over the countryside. Being a philosopher, Pasolini’s worldview is important to consider here in that he was an outspoken critic of the C.I.A. and the Italian Mafia as “Right Wing Extremists” and “Collaborators,” which in the context of this being his last film before he was murdered (some say assassinated) on November 2nd, 1975, in a Mafia-styled execution, is noteworthy. Specifically, he was run over several times with his own car, multiple bones were broken, his testicles were bludgeoned with a pipe, and finally his body was then burned with gasoline. It was suspected that the Mafia or perhaps right-wing extremists from Northern Italy executed him. Whoever it was, I think it is safe to say, they obviously were not a fan of this, his final work.
As a premise undergirding Salo, Pasolini tries to assign power perversions exclusively to Fascist Italy, but I think his premise falls apart under scrutiny of a little history, as in truth it seems like every single concentration of power and authority turns into a sex and/or death cult when left unaccountable for too long. Hitler’s Germany was known for mass rape, forcing multiple pregnancies for the ‘Master Race,’ and that was against their own women let alone against the women of their enemies, i.e. the ‘Joy Division’; Jewish women forced into prostitution in WW2. It was for sure a thing Nazis did, as did Mussofascists in Italy, although not famed for mass rape themselves, which again hollows out the claims of this movie in part. Fascist Italy was not known for mass rape like they were in Japan in the Rape of Nanking. The Catholic Church has come to be known as well infiltrated by child molesters. For how many centuries we dare not speculate. But I am not sure it simply boils down to “the right’s fault” or was it “leftist infiltration” such as the “Marxist Catholic” Pasolini references himself as, or the Soviet Union was known for against Poland and Lithuania. Less documented was the roving rape of Italian women by French Moroccan soldiers committed heinously by the Allied side in this instance, known as the Marocchinate. Which means essentially Fascist Italy was known more for getting raped en masse and not committing it for the record. Furthermore, the topic of rape in World War 2 in Italy was looked at as an honor dispute. Women would be shamed and ostracized for confessing rape and outcast as ‘impure’ and thus it was not reported in Fascist Italy as one mitigating factor.
Rape has always been a complicated cultural issue across the world. It is truly a global phenomenon. That is except for the one, no two exceptions. As for rape occurring under Stalinist/Maoist cultural revolutions? Were there sexual abuses of power? Certainly not. C’est impossible! The wealthy daughters of the Chinese Nationalists at the mercy of the peasants and politburo I’m sure were virgin pure throughout the purges as were the Russian Aristocrats.
“You doth protest too much” is perhaps a very apt criticism of Pasolini’s Salo for singling out Italy as uniquely apt to be the masters of perversion, as at 41, my own age, Pier Paolo Pasolini ‘met the great love of his life,’ a 15-year-old boy, Ninetto Davoli, whom he cast in a 1966 film entitled Bad Birds and Little Birds (The Hawks and the Sparrows). Inferences aside, it seems like a bit of deflection there but then again what accusation isn’t a Rorschach test? It’s known as psychological transference; in primitive cultures it was known as hexing. Fear of rape, triggering mentally ill, and sexual assault victims by portraying their political enemies as a stand in for their real-life rapist perpetrator, is a bit mass mind control propaganda. It is also common psychological warfare to paint your enemy with the brush of the thing you are accused of in your worst fear, formerly known as ‘black propaganda’ during WW2 (please note: I’m sure this will be updated soon!).
Truly, one must take care when staring into the abyss one is not merely reflecting into a mirror of one’s own ugly desires. Commentating on the sins of Government to exorcise your own perversions, imbuing the government with your own personal fetishes is a disingenuous enterprise from the start, not that, on balance, it couldn’t have happened to a nicer regime! It’s a wash as far as I’m concerned. Call me Mercutio! Deeper still, perhaps even his political bias itself is a pretext to imagine a world where his fantasies could come to life if the world were turned upside down?! Then again, dead men tell no tales, (except retroactively through their exquisitely directed torture porn, and so let us now get back to the film review).
To the Film: The four Supreme Leaders are gloriously over-the-top and sharply dressed Fascists. I must confess I found it absurd to the point of humour, parody, and satire which is obviously the intent of this work to an extent. Before they were Cenobites it could have been they were living their best lives in Salo, or 120 Days of Sodom. One of them is referred to as ‘The Magistrate’ (with the mustache), the other is “the President” (who I believe is the cross-eyed one), there is also “the Duke” (the one recognizable from his impeccably groomed Beard), and “The Bishop” (whom enjoys the whipping others a bit too much).
Once they assume all legal control their first order of business is to complete their collection of young teenage boys and girls that they find attractive and separate them from their families.
This first of four acts is titled “Ante Inferno” (translated as “Above the Gates of Hell”). This indicates they are the ones who benefit from all the control and Hell they created in Italy, without suffering the consequence of it in any way, and are in fact an ‘Above the Law Gang’, for lack of a better term. They are the elites creating their own pedo-torture paradise which goes beyond mere sex, but into domination, humiliation, grooming, and torture. The Politicians collect the boys and joke ‘who is going to deflower which boy’. Girls too. One girl has poor teeth and despite her beauty is discarded. Another naked girl is brought in, and her tears of agony entice the fiendish Grace and President.
The theme is explicitly stated “All things are good when taken to excess”. Later they explain to their intended victims what they can expect. The Duke decrees like Lord Ridiculous himself, “You weak, chained creatures destined for our pleasure, don’t expect to find here the ridiculous freedom granted by the outside world. You are beyond the reach of any legality. No one knows you are here. To the outside world you are already dead. Here are the laws that will govern your lives.” What proceeds is a litany list of submissive instructions of mandatory fantasy fulfillment to their captures and a daily routine of orgies is to be expected. Notably any religious activity will be punished by death.
Act 2 is titled “Circle of Manias.” A creepy smiling blonde Fascist Nazi Italian Sex Madame descends to a room full of captive naked teenage boys and girls. As master of ceremonies, she tells them all her depraved stories from her sordid childhood with laughter and levity. A deception both to herself and her audience (us included).
Despite the warning of punishment by death, the image of the Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus is in mural on the wall, as the Sex Madame sexually grooms a teenage boy and girl in turn reflecting both hypocrisy and transgression. She makes a young girl orgasm and a boy who looks like Justin Bieber cum. Now they are allowed to be married, the Supreme Four declare. A mock wedding ensues where the bridesmaids and young men are naked for the wedding. The finely bearded Duke begins groping all the naked “bridesmaids” during this ‘sacred ceremony’ in an act of fantasy fulfilment and the vows commence. Then he moves onto the boys. Equal opportunity offender it would seem. Then he gropes the old women mentoring the girls. He even starts fondling some of the armed guards. El Presidente is getting his fill to be sure. He stops groping everyone at the wedding and an authoritative voice says, “Now let us resume the ceremony.” Hahaha! Glorious!
The young couple says their “I do’s” and are quickly taken into a room to consummate in front of the Four Supreme Leaders. They are kicked to the floor and commanded like two animals to make love. As soon as the innocent couple starts to enjoy the idea too much the Supreme 4 dressed in their fine Italian suits start to debauch the newlyweds, then further still, one Supreme Leader begins to sodomize another Supreme Leader as he is raping one of the teens. Picture the fulfilment of the Sacred Wedding of Season 7 of American Horror Story and you’ll get the idea minus “I Swear” by Boys2Men and the whole brother/sister dynamic.
After the power orgy they discuss the need for blood in ‘Greatness’ (greatness in the abstract that is). “Without blood there is no forgiveness.” “Is that Baudelaire?”, asks one of the Supremes. Is it Nietzche or Dadaist commentary? They cannot decide. A quick Google search confirms it is Hebrew 9:22. Aha. A sharp jab to Christianity there from the “Marxist Catholic!” The biblical passage goes onto say “A religious covenant must be bound in blood.” Although Jesus’ blood was supposed to be the last needed but alas, tyrants aren’t known for their attention to bible studies. They just like the bloody parts.
Next the naked teenagers are being whipped like dogs as they crawl like a pack team up an illustrious staircase. The Duke proclaims: “I rejoice when I see others degraded. And I say to myself: I am happier than the scum they call the people. If men were equal happiness could not exist.” I hear you Pasolini.
Act 3 is titled “The Circle of Shit.” MC MussoNazi Sex Madame continues her tales and proceeds to show off her perfect behind. It’s admired by all. I am no connoisseur, but I suspect a genderswap/Flashdance bait and switch occurred, but I could be wrong. (Call me anal for such details!) Sex Madame confesses she enjoyed being raped by everyone as a pre-teen but her mother wanted it to stop. So she killed her mother when she tried to stop her from whoring around. The Duke interjects “Should we be grateful because she once took pleasure with a man? Sacrifices for such pleasure should be made.” Such lunatic heights of mania! The Duke then confesses the exquisite pleasure of killing his own mother as soon as he could.
One captive teen girl’s brain snaps and she beckons God in earnest to take her away as at least God will show pity. This is normally punishable by death. She demands to be murdered to join her mother but of course the sadistic leader refuses anything so quick or easy. Her tears are their psychological Vaseline to continue the horror with more vigour. The Duke proceeds to drop trough and takes dump on the floor. Mange! Mange!
More shit is served for the “Wedding Dinner” only now Justin Bieber’s retro-double is in a dress next to “The President” with excrement shared on their mouths. Vile!
More potty-play ensues but here the escalation of scatology wanes into a dull spell. It becomes banal momentarily at an oppressive moment as the humor runs dry to psychopathic instrumentation only. Just as I begin to feel that his “Grace,” the Duke (i.e the Supreme with the Beard) walks into the side room (for side pleasures during story time at any moment the whim carries them), and gets a teenage girl to pee on his face. From there he returns to story time with the Nazi Madame, freshly peed on and flicks his wet beard with a gesture of such accomplishment and self-approval that it defies and embraces all comic reason at once. Genius comedy! Kudos to the actor, Paolo Bonacelli (Midnight Express, Caligula, Scarlet Diva). He is the movie’s MVP: Most Valuable Pervert.
Soon a butt beauty contest is demanded after hearing the Madame go on about sexy asses. The Madame creates a cornucopia of bottoms, like a fancy chocolate ball arrangement at a fine dinner party. The Supreme Leaders up the stakes by agreeing to kill the winner of the best behind competition. A boy wins in the blind choice amongst the Supreme Leaders.
The Final Act is titled “Circle of Blood.” A guard and black maid are shot for fornicating by all 4 Supreme Leaders who catch them in the act while wearing nicely selected dresses and accoutrement. Soon all the teenagers are willing to confess to the crimes of others which lead to one torture after another of confessors and the accused. Then it turns into an outright bloodbath of torture and mayhem. In terms of the analogy to the Mussofacist state, honestly it is indistinguishable whether it is Fascist or Communist at this point. It’s just ‘turn in your neighbour to save your own butt’ time, like always.
At a distance by binocular all manner of torture occurs to all the favored teens, each of the Supreme Leaders having marked out their favorites throughout the four acts. Now all sacredness must be defiled even personally against themselves! Kill your darlings indeed!
Not just kill of course; scalping, burning dicks and breasts, carving out eyes, sodomy and hanging, etcetera, etcetera. The Supreme Leaders have a rotation of three tormentors to one voyeur who abstains, instead observing from the castle window above to the torture range below. Then a rage-filled whipping is witnessed by one Supreme as another Supreme appears to be shouting at his teenage victims. Visceral silent performance! That one stuck with me for some reason.
The final scene goes out with a whimper, as two boys, spared of the tortures, graduating now to guards with guns, dance with each other in secret, as if to say, after all the mayhem of WW2 fascism can we just have a little dance between two guys? One retracts this poignant inference by remarking who his secret girlfriend is amongst the captive sex slaves, just to be extra safe; still closeted even after all these monstrosities.
After processing all this and watching a few palette cleansing, family friendly films, one starring John Candy another with Dudley Moore, and a nice movie on Tubitv starring Helen Hunt she directed called Ride, I was then able to consider whether Salo was any “good” or not. If we consider judging a movie based on what it ‘intends’ to do, I don’t think anyone could have taken this movie much further without turning nihilistic or making a full-blown comedy. It rides that line with excellence. If you are able to tell yourself they weren’t eating shit and just eating prop-chocolate cake that helps too. And try not to dwell on the dog walking of naked teenagers being uncomfortably similar to Abu Ghraib. But it was directed remarkably well considering the subject matter. Pier Paolo Pasolini is a walking contradiction. His desire to take his horrible life and smear and blacken the Italian Fascists with it is fine by me. As I said it couldn’t happen to a nicer group of thugs. It is recommended for the sheer experience of it. It is not just torture porn; it is a work of art and a work of comedic genius if you’re like me. Try to remember Dantes’ Inferno itself was titled “The Divine Comedy”. It helps when you’re looking at the President wondering what is going on behind those crossed eyes.
Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom Downers:
The whole premise of Pasolini and potential reality that all concentrated power inevitably leads to Sodom and Gomorrah. That and the Circle of Shit Act should be avoided during dinner time. It didn’t go down well.
Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom Uppers:
The comedy of the Fascist Leaders was the driver of the film for me. It was one ludicrous towering act of shame and domination after the other. I saw much of it as very humorous pornography. I guess my sense of humour differs from that of the Italian Mafia and/or right-wing extremists in that sense. As they apparently did not see the sunny side of this film like I did.
I particularly like the sadistic performance from the bearded Supreme Leader played by Paolo Bonacelli and the other three were great players as well.
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom is the definition of ‘Underground.’ It is a phenomenal addition to any such collection. I hardily recommend it as a one-time experience. I may re-watch it again someday in the distant future when I’m in the mood for absurdist humour.
AKA: Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma, Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Salò, Salò, Salo, Die 120 Tage von Sodom, Salo – De 120 dagen van Sodoma, Salò, ou os 120 Dias de Sodoma, Сало или 120те дни на Содом, Salo: Les 120 Jours de Sodome, 索多玛120天, 120 μέρες στα Σόδομα, Salò ή οι 120 μέρες στα Σόδομα, Salò ή οι 120 μέρες στα Σόδομα, Sodomu no ichi, ソドムの市, Salo, arba 120 Sodomos dienų, Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma, Salò, czyli 120 dni Sodomy, Сало, или 120 дней Содома, 索多瑪120天, Salo ya da Sodom’un 120 Günü
Directed by: Pier Paolo Pasolini
Written by: Pier Paolo Pasolini, Sergio Citti, Marquis de Sade, Pupi Avati
Produced by: Alberto Grimaldi, Alberto De Stefanis, Antonio Girasante
Cinematography by: Tonino Delli Colli
Editing by: Nino Baragli
Music by: Arnaldo Graziosi
Special Effects by: Alfredo Tiberi
Cast: Paolo Bonacelli, Giorgio Cataldi, Uberto Paolo Quintavalle, Aldo Valletti, Caterina Boratto, Elsa De Giorgi, Hélène Surgère
Year: 1975
Country: Italy, France
Language: Italian, French, German (English Subtitles), English (Dubbed)
Colour: Colour
Runtime: 1h 57min
Studio:Produzioni Europee Associate, Les Productions Artistes Associés
Distributor: The Criterion Collection, MGM Studios