Salò, or The 120 Days Of Sodom (1975)

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

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Directed By: Pier Paolo Pasolini

Written By: Pier Paolo Pasolini, Sergio Citti

Starring: Paolo Bonacelli, Caterina Boratto, Hélène Surgère, Sonia Saviange, Elsa De Giorgi, Aldo Valletti, Giuliana Melis, Giorgio Cataldi, Sergio Fascetti, Umberto Paolo Quintavalle, Bruno Musso, Faridah Malik

Genres: Drama, War, Horror

AKAs: Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma, Salo

Country: France, Italy

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Salò, or The 120 Days Of Sodom belongs to 87 collections

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All Ratings | With Reviews

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TCI | Percentile | Date Rated | # Stars (Reviews)

Stars	User	Rating
8	calharding	37 _13th
Yes, it's misunderstood; yes, it's allegorical; but that doesn't necessarily mean it's any good. Call me unimaginative, but I don't think having a naked young girl forced to eat fresh human excrement is the best - or at all subtle - way to satirize the horrors of fascism. If this argument is valid, then only one word correctly sums up Salo: Gratuitousness. Good fodder, perhaps, for the worryingly demented viewer, but try Pan's Labyrinth for a far better treatment of the same themes.
6	terrymac	65 _47th
This had some unpleasant moments, but I think I might be getting desensitised in my old age. Maybe I had seen La Grande Bouffe too recently; this felt liked a markedly seedier update to that for some reason. As such, I found it hard to take too seriously, but did find it genuinely engaging. It has some interesting ideas, but definitely won't be for everyone.
6	FlorVdE	0 _4th
Maybe this was OMG Shocking back in the seventies, but looking at it now it's mostly just boring and very uninteresting. It tries to justify its exploitation elements by something which probably had to pass for "social commentary" but fails to hit the mark on that as well.
6	chemical404	60 _59th
Social commentary? Well yes. But the deeper meaning this movie has, is overwhelmed by harsh and depressing nihilism. I liked cinematography, which is usual for European films of the time. Also i will never forget looks of The President character - actor has the same naturally fitting scary looks as did have the one who acted the Count Orlok in 'Nosferatu'. I don't consider Salo as a masterpiece in any way, but it is definitely worth seeing.
5	td888	10 _2nd
Disgusting and terrible dumb. You've got 9 boys and girls to do what you want and all they can think off is some anal-fixating stuff and marriage-games. Extremely boring to watch, so Pasolini puts some torture scenes at the end to wake you up. This film is a bunch of shit. Anyone saying this is a masterpiece, is an idiot. I bought the DVD to add to my criterion collection, also watched the extras, but after that threw the discs in the trash. I cannot imagine I would watch this crap ever again.
4	TripleSH	15 _10th
There exists a subset of people who will put Salò on a pedestal and act like that fact that it was created as an allegorical statement about European politics excuses the fact that it is a cinematic trainwreck. Salò might win my award for the poorest editing ever submitted on a completed film. Why certain scenes continue for so long or why some scenes are even used at all in the finished product baflle me as a movie watcher. If you were "moved" or "disturbed" by Salò, your bar is set very low.
4	Tullymox	0 _0th
I am not a prude, but this film is the only one I've ever considered to be filthy in my life. Pasolini was a sick perverted scumbag, and he was allowed to project his basest fantasies onto the big screen under the guise of "social commentary". It's as if a person into bestiality made a film of men screwing sheep and then justified it by calling it a critique on man's harsh treatment of livestock. This film made me sick to my stomach and if I could give it a negative score, I would. It'
4	BillyShears	85 _86th
Hey you wanna see some shit
4	Jeb	85 _70th
Among one of the most sickest and terrifying movies ever to hit earth. This movie is extremely hard to watch, if you can't stand gore, extremely bloody violence and torture, STAY AWAY FROM THIS ONE!
3	MartinTeller	58 _15th
It makes a powerful statement about fascism, but it's not a very good movie. First of all: not as disturbing as it's cracked up to be, perhaps because it looks so fake. Not that I expect them to actually do these things, but at least try to fool me. And the acting is lame, not helped at all by the dubbing. And in spite of all the depravity on display, Salo is mostly tedious and dull. And I feel that Pasolini is grasping for shock value, or else indulging his own repressed desires.
3	eveelun	55 _14th
I get the film's message, but it really isn't worth sitting through two hours worth of torture, depravity, misanthropy, and general unpleasantness. Plus I sense some prurient glee amidst the condemnation, which adds a sordid and disturbing element to an already unenjoyable film. Disappointing final film from Pasolini, since even in his most cynical films there are nonetheless moments of warmth and wit that are totally absent here.
3	TidusFFX	0 _0th
No movie deserves a 0, but this is not a movie. It's a sick, disgusting ugliness and there is absolutely no excuse for its existence.
3	djross	70 _76th
Fascism as the nihilism of the power and the freedom to consume infinitely, granted to a few at the expense of the many, who remain bound by rules that are arbitrary because they are a pretence. Then the internet was invented and the freedom to consume infinitely was granted to the many, vicariously but in high definition, with just a few thousand actors or beheadees needed. Problem solved. The highlight was the inclusion of an "essential bibliography" in the titles: more films should do this.
3	cagedwisdom	50 _38th
I feel kinda weird about the fact that I did not see this as a film that was particularly hard to sit through - sure, there's some pretty excessive and disgusting torture and a few of the scenes were quite unpleasant, but I was left feeling like I was watching something utterly surreal more than I was watching something disgusting. In short, I don't feel this is the big deal it's made out to be, and I found for example the cinematography much more interesting than the torture.
3	CloseFriend	28 _5th
I don't doubt that this film makes trenchant points regarding the dangers of fascism, but I scarcely see them under all the piles of shit. (I really wish I didn't mean that literally.)
3	PeaceAnarchy	69 _23rd
Pasolini's direction is good but the whole thing is both terribly disgusting and fake looking. It just has neither the visceral enough to shock nor well executed enough to be thought provoking. There is a lot there, and I can see how it could be effective for some people, I just didn't find it to be terribly so.
3	BullyFanatic	40 _1st
Pasolini accomplished what he was trying to do, which was show a side Nazi fascism in the 1930's and 1940's, and he did it very well. But does that mean I have to like it? No. I was constantly bored, forcing myself to stay awake. It's like softcore with "teens" and with a lot of adult-to-teen homosexuality. I also don't find eating shit amusing. I wouldn't even call this film "disturbing." It's just depraved. The book is much better.
3	antitype	95 _97th
A tedious, repugnant, awful masterpiece. Scatological prurience and provocation soils what is meant to be a profound statement on fascism, making this come off as exploitative and voyeuristic before its allegory becomes clear. What looks like the work of a debauched pervert is actually a cruel reminder to the "children of Mussolini and Coca-Cola" of the dehumanizing consequences of fascism's anarchic power/control. The hellish climax and final scene condemn "masters" and the complacent alike.
3	burmashave	85 _62nd
the guy who killed Pasolini should see some of the porn I watch
3	mattorama12	28 _2nd
I didn't need to see kids eating shit to understand that facism is bad. It's just way too over the top to really have anything interesting to say. Without anything interesting to say, it really is just exploitation, even if that wasn't the intent.
3	lisa-	7 _92nd
best described as a seething hate movie. let no-one pretend that this allegory for italian fascism is in any way balanced or deep, but there's no need for it to be: this is simply pasolini screaming at the top of his lungs how much he fucking hates that piece of shit political system. exploitation in the extreme. perhaps not a masterpiece due to it being rather drawn-out and one-note, but absolutely commendable in its total lack of subtlety and discretion.
2	Kavu	74 _54th
Brutal, gory and oppressing. While this is undoubtedly a disturbed movie by a disturbed man, it's value as an anti-violence movie and a reminder about the evil happening in the world is undeniable.
2	gleeb	82 _89th
An appropriately brutal depiction of fascism, which itself is essentially brutal. The worst part is about half an hour from the end, when some of the victims turn on one another, and Pasolini shows how in dying, Fascism leaves its seeds behind.
2	HalfJapanese	10 _2nd
Oooh, look, it's art! See these people eating shit and scurrying around like dogs? It's art! I'm not sure the director deserved to die as a result of making this film, but at least it kept him from making any more.
2	caiman	60 _23rd
Should I feel contempt for the characters in the film, or for the film itself? Maybe the answer is, I feel a little of both. I guess the message Pasolini was trying to get across is a moral one, but why, then, do I feel so dirty after watching the movie? I have the unsettling suspicion that Pasolini's motives in making this sick movie were not 100% noble; maybe it takes a sick mind to show such depravity. But then again, maybe the movie is just THAT effective. I'll have to keep pondering it.
2	Charlie	40 _6th
I know what it's supposed to mean and I'm not doubting a certain artistic approach, but in the end for me it's just sick and too disgusting to see any importance in it.
2	volver	50 _27th
It stands outside everything. It is both a masterpiece and disgusting.
2	iceblox	6 _1st
A montage of storyless & pointless bizarre sexual perversions which somehow passes off as a "classic" in the minds of pretentious idiots.
2	WWallce4prez	65 _35th
Brimming with metaphor and impressive social commentary, Pasolini's infamous film deserves much more credit than its given. The sardonic attitudes toward torture and depravity are terrifying enough to give the film a horror aspect to its already unsettling subject. Still, I can't honestly say I enjoyed watching this film and I would only recommend it to the the most open-minded cinephile.
2	a_doomoot3	96 _80th
A masterpiece, but it can only be loved at a cost.
2	DougReese	100 _96th
One of the most maddening, disturbing, revolting, unbelievably sickening, and horridly nightmarish films ever made - no other film has ever fed the indisputably gruesome and provocative emotions that this raw, worthless film has given me. It's not a personal favorite of mine, in fact, I personally despise the film and what happens in it. But I cannot deny the emotions it has scarred me with, and it is hard not to respect Pasolini's major bravery to direct the film. It even cost him his life.
2	Frosty	50 _26th
4chan: The Movie.
2	overrated	60 _62nd
Overshadowed by its own infamy, not actually that interesting (similar to Cannibal Holocaust, but this gets a better mark in having a point). Mostly revolves around butts and shit fetishes which reflects the banality of fascism.
2	Cinema_Asia	70 _56th
This film is truly a vile spectacle. It's the film equivalent of religious self flagellation where you are supposed to come to some enlightened realization at the end of the suffering. With that being said it is strangely brilliant and repulsive at the same time. Triple P' was a thing to behold. Fuck the haters. Fuck southern european colonial christianity in its dirty degenerate pope brown starfish ass.
2	dunbar	70 _44th
A gratuitous and perverse experiment. I'm not sure if that qualifies it as something we should be watching in order to grasp a message, but it's certainly not something we should watch for entertainment. You don't need to scare me into humanity, I'm not straying too far from it any time soon. I just struggle to understand exactly who this movie was created for.
2	backwardsuit	72 _56th
I can really appreciate what this film is doing which is screaming "THIS IS HORRIBLE AND HAS TO STOP NOW!" but I honestly can't say I enjoyed watching it in any way whatsoever. Kinda like a sloppy but heartfelt cinematic outburst that has inherent integrity but doesn't really do much to engage you beyond utter shock.
2	Himinotebook	20 _6th
Listen if I wanted to see a bunch of anecdotes about poop and depraved sex stuff being told while teenagers listen in tearful horror I could have just gone to my family dinner after my grandma's had a few gin and tonics
2	tuerda	5 _4th
Really gross and awful. Sometimes this kind of thing is done in pursuit of a real artistic statement or to try to make a point. This is not such a time. This is pretty much just torture porn and nothing else. I can't see how this passes as a legitimate movie.
1	Peppersteak	75 _5th
The film that got director Pier Paolo Pasolini murdered.
1	yilb	20 _7th
Just because something is gross or weird doesn't make it interesting. Slow.
1	DaeSanye	0 _0th
I must admit that I turned it off at the start of the circle of shit... after that there was no way this movie would get more then 0 points
1	TheDiceman	10 _1st
?
1	HP_Buttcraft	65 _33rd
The film's notoriety supersedes the ugly and dull content of the film before its gruesome conclusion. But I find real-life fascism to be even uglier than this film.
1	Vendetta	90 _81st
A big critic about intellectualism ..
1	gogokain	15 _26th
I consider myself to have a pretty high threshold for simulated violence, as long as there's a point. I'm sure one shows up eventually, but I couldn't really see it after the first 30 minutes, so I called it. Gets points for having serious balls though.
1	ruudt	22 _5th
DISGUSTING! No storyline, only vulgarity...
1	vlmecc	20 _0th
This was a very hard film to watch
1	Stain	90 _86th
Very, very disturbing. I guarantee you won't want to have any kind of sex for a week afterwards
1	martryn	66 _41st
I tried to watch this, and I don't really get it. Movie is just two hours of torture. Some of the dialogue is interesting, which makes parts of the movie bearable, but the rest of the film is just disgusting and awful to watch. If it were slightly more explicit, you might be able to use it as spank material. I guess 14 year old martryn would have back in the days before internet porn.
1	Anomaly	70 _49th
Effectively fulfills its purpose, but remains a bit poorly constructed. Some scenes meander, and it feels like the editing should have been much tighter. The grossness of the content is a bit overstated, but there are a few scenes that do genuinely repulse.
1	zae	70 _53rd
Not as disturbing as it's made out to be. The depravity is severely lacking in imagination, and there's a prevailing sense of being detached from the characters and their actions, with the result that I mostly just felt indifferent and even bored while watching. Still a finely crafted film, though, and a potent piece of social commentary.
1	Shmendrek	3 _61st
Receives a "0" for the actual content of the film, which almost made me throw up. Receives "5" for what the director was attempting to do. Hard film to watch, and for a humanist like Pasolini, I'm sure it was a hard film to make. Wouldn't recommend it, but it's interesting to know it exists.
1	torontodog	60 _40th
Yeah it's pretty gross. But I gave a little credit to Pasolini for achieving his goal: he wanted the viewer to feel like a sick voyeur, to feel guilty just for witnessing the abuses. This may make me want to score it a 0, but it was the purpose of the film, so it cannot be a complete failure.
1	Luna6ix	42 _4th
I found Salo to be neither shocking, nor an effective allegory for fascism. It basically plays out like soft core porn with no morals or taste. You have no feelings for any of the characters, so to see them butt raped and abused is like prodding a needle into a limb treated with Novocaine. The vast majority of the motivations of the characters seem to have no basis in reality, and when a movie relies on the viewers ability to discern sloppily applied symbolism to work, it simply fails.
1	Dean Franz	77 _74th
It's an art house movie, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't have a bucket nearby. Highly disturbing and repulsive. Like taking a cheesegrater to the eyes.
1	Detox	89 _93rd
Sometimes hard to watch, but this is one of the most important movies ever.
1	tathiel	50 _8th
This movie actually made me throw up... In all other aspects, I completely share Shmendrek's opinion (see his review), I couldn't have it written any better.
1	NathanDarko	92 _87th
the border between desire and perversion. sexuality without love.de sade was a mastermind he wrote down what others only thought.salo is only one of his books, and pasolini adapt this movie that means pain and disturbing behaviour full of decadence against slaves. De Sade Books have a mass circulation even today.
1	e_e	5 _5th
Tedious and sensationalist nonsense.
1	graveyardtan	85 _71st
A well choreographed dance number steals the film.
1	Jesus Christ	80 _83rd
Disgusting, puking, but good. A unique experience of sickness.
1	emredost	91 _82nd
Masterpiece but not for everyone
1	JohnSandwich	60 _41st
They eat poo! Fairly disturbing but a bit of a disappointment overall, for me - I guess I'm not artsy enough for this one, as I know there's stuff here I don't appreciate the way I should (sets, for example).
1	chiefg	75 _68th
Wild potpourri of snuff/scat/fetish/porn/comedy; definitly not for the faint of heart. Major props to the cross-eyed lunatic for freaking the shit out of me!
1	ZayanK	67 _33rd
The most depressing film that could possibly be made. I'll never watch this again.
1	deaddilly	70 _48th
Finished a memorable week of cinema that consisted of Rohmer's Six Moral Tales and the new series from Guadagnino with this. My world is in balance.
1	prophecy	67 _44th
It's hard to rate this movie. Part of me wants to give it a 1 for being so downright unpleasant but at the same time i want to give it a 10 for being so downright unpleasant. There are moments of brilliance in this movie and moments that should have ended up at the cutting floor. But there aren't many movies out there that are so extreme and so though provoking at the same time. Also the adaptation from the book is done quite well. If you have the stomach... be sure to check this one out.
1	harveyjessup	0 _3rd
pretentious shock shlock, no value.
1	Magicpaul	50 _6th
Of course very shocking for it's day, but remains relatively tame. Take away the subject matter this is a sub par film.
1	fantastard	2 _1st
Urgh, urgh, urgh, urgh urghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Don't do it to yourself, it's not worth it, unless you're a masochist, if you are then you'll love this.
1	PetrosTser	50 _19th
The big question for me is whether the underlying sociopolitical commentary alone is good enough reason to consider "Salo" great. It's not the most shocking film of all time, more like a very controversial one, but personally I doubt one has to be this graphic to get a message across. In all honesty I just couldn't really get my teeth into the way it's pieced together. Yet somehow, in between the shock value and, unexpectedly, a puzzling amount of silliness, Pasolini hammers home a point or two.
1	closedmouth	70 _41st
Way more watchable than I was expecting. The whole thing comes across less gruelling horror show and more broad (very broad) social satire, which means that, yes, it's quite funny (the celebration of coprophagia is hilarious in its absurdity and deadpan delivery) and, yes, it's very unsubtle and has pretty much one idea repeated for two hours with little in the way of plot to hold one's interest. I suspect much of the outrage comes from those confusing the satirist for his subject of ridicule.
1	snallygaster	64 _69th
Is Salo simply another film which tries to shock the viewer into accepting its creator's claims of deep meaning? The Fascists/libertines of Salo are drawn from Sade rather than history, and any shadowy, scary group (freemasons, satanic cults, "international banking", etc.) could be substituted. But using Italian Fascists is a clever distraction. The target of Salo's critique is not Fascist wartime Italy, but capitalist postwar Italy, and more generally, the "anarchism of power" in all its forms
1	glumpy_99	71 _37th
An odd, angry, incoherent piece of ugliness; strangely mesmerising in its way, with a ghoulishly black sense of humour making some of the nastier scenes more palatable (especially in its choice of music). This seems to have been directed with deliberate de-emphasis on the horror of the situation, until a pumped-up climax where we suddenly get a lot of brutal savagery directed for maximum shock effect. Certainly memorable, but not sure how successful this is (or what it aims to succeed at!)
1	Seethruskin	6 _95th
Not until American Wedding has poo eating been utilized in such a great way.
1	xacviant	81 _55th
This infamous excursion into the darker parts of human nature has a reputation both as utter filth and as a masterpiece. It's a bit of both. What SALO does well is unsettle the viewer, not just through unpleasantness (which abounds), but through the questions it poses. How many of us, given free reign to indulge our ugliest desires, would maintain our self-control? As a political statement, SALO makes the expected case against totalitarianism. But it does so in a way that's genuinely shocking.
1	KramYessev	54 _34th
Judging by its own merits, "Salo" is a dated, sometimes laughable exploitation flick. Judging by comparison to its source material, "Salo" is extremely disrespectful and fails to hide behind its supposed "message" to cover up the polarizing concept. I very rarely say this but I think "Salo" could use a remake, one that's respectful and loyal to its source material.
1	bof	50 _24th
Well, that's a movie.
1	Ryan Lueders (ReelRyan)	5 _1st
This movie was terrible. I spent about three different days watching this because I couldn't watch more than 45 min. of this movie at a time. I kept waiting for something to happen other than torture porn... but that didn't happen. Then to add even more insult the movie just ends with two guards dancing with each other. I feel like this movie was just an excuse to release a really disgusting porn that wasn't even erotic at all. The "President" in the movie also annoyed me with his weird eyes.
1	adamj1982	70 _58th
I can't eat rice with my fingers like this
1	maknela	40 _1st
Trying to understand Pasolini's point, but was just too disgusting to watch.
1	Armilio	78 _85th
It left me horrified. At first, i thought it was something like "Eyes wide shot": sex is about power. But here the elites are firing their last shots before the collapse of the Salò republic, making them all more desperate. So I realized that it's more than that, they hate theirself, they are punishing the beauty, everything beautiful and human that can exist even in their souls. Pasolini practiced extreme BDSM, and i think he fought his demons with this film like Jesus in the desert.
1	Greyscale	50 _12th
Well-crafted but disgusting and pointless. It's not about fascism, that just provides the director with the excuse he needs to indulge in his sickness.
1	dachampr	20 _0th
trash.
1	Rexlito	65 _1st
Fascism is shit, I think we can learn that by watching actual WWII/concentration camp footage instead of this filth. Disgusting and horrid film. I would not recommended it to anyone.I wonder why the director was murdered? Maybe he knew something.
1	MarkBeronte	10 _1st
This emperor has no clothes, is fat,ugly and has a bad case of body acne, yet simple minds feel the need to praise it.
1	brell	35 _55th
fun fact: I briefly dated a communist who looks a lot like this communist, rip fictional good guy and endless victims of fascism and capitalism. anyway, Pasolini won my affections with this interview response: "We must want too much in order to obtain a little."

Average Percentile 48.6% from 2092 Ratings