【Finely crafted meditation on the nature of fascism and evil..】
WARNING: THE FILM REVIEWED HERE IS BOTH GRAPHICALLY VIOLENT AND EXPLICITLY PORNOGRAPHIC.
THIS REVIEW CONTAINS EXPLICIT LANGUAGE NECESSARY TO MEANINGFUL DISCUSSION OF THE CONTENT AND ISSUES OF THE FILM.
Salo is a film that many viewers understandably find repulsive.
Unfortunately, that sense of disgust is precisely what causes the vast majority of us to divert our gaze from the instances of sadistic behavior occurring in real life, every day, in many different places around the world, and that, in turn, allows its continuation.
It follows the source material reliably except for the Fascist association at the beginning and the cutesy artistic touch at the very end.
A pianist bangs out snappy dancehall tunes and dirges on the ballroom piano.
Other times, we hear the sound of big bands on the phonograph.
It's hard to focus on the images, given the gruesome content, but when I noticed, I was struck by the contrast between the beauty of the images and the horror of the activities.
Paolo Bonacelli is outstanding as The Duke.
His other work includes notably Midnight Express (1978), Caligula (1979), and Night on Earth (1992).
Aldo Valletti was very creepy as The President.
I thought the performance by Helene Surgere as Signora Vaccari the highlight of the film.****
In the end, Salo is a powerful, visceral, disturbing film that looks into the darkest corners of the human psyche and never flinches from what it uncovers.
Yes, its exploitative, but its also an artistic film made by a filmmaker who wanted to confront the complacency of both mainstream cinema as well as humankind.
Few can look back on Sade's novel or Pasolini's film with fond memories, but even fewer would admit to not being affected by their savage vision.
It is for this reason that anyone who?s serious about film should see Salo.
I give it nothing less than my highest recommendation.