AKA:
Salo
The 120 Days Of Sodom
Die 120 Tage von Sodom >> German
Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma >> Original Italian
Synopsis:
Set in the Nazi-controlled, northern Italian state of Salo in 1944, four dignitaries round up sixteen perfect specimens of youth and take them together with guards, servants and studs to a palace near Marzabotto. In addition, there are four middle-aged women: three of whom recount arousing stories whilst the fourth accompanies on the piano. The story is largely taken up with their recounting the stories of Dante and De Sade: the Circle of Manias, the Circle of Shit and the Circle of Blood. Following this, the youths are executed whilst each libertine takes his turn as voyeur.
Salo or the 120 Days of Sodom (Salo o le 120 giornate di Sodoma), commonly referred to as Salo, is a controversial 1975 Italian film written and directed by Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini with uncredited writing contributions by Pupi Avati. It is based on the book The 120 Days of Sodom by the Marquis de Sade.
The movie was extremely controversial upon its release, and remains banned in several countries to this day, because of its graphic portrayals of rape, torture and murder — mainly of people thought to be younger than eighteen years of age.
It was Pasolini's last film; he was murdered shortly before Salo was released.
The film focuses on four wealthy, corrupted fascist libertines in 1944 Mussolini's Italy who kidnap a total of eighteen teenage boys and girls and subject them to four months of extreme violence, sadism, sexual and mental torture before finally executing them one by one.
Although it remains a controversial film to this day, it has been praised by various film historians and critics.
A large group of artists, including Martin Scorsese and Alec Baldwin, and scholars signed a legal brief arguing the film's artistic merit; the case was dismissed on a technicality.
Starring:
Edwige Fenech
Valerio Fioravanti
Enrico Simonetti
Director: Marino Girolami
WARNING: EXTREMELY GRAPHIC, NOT FOR EVERYONE