Salo -A DVD Re-Release-

Well it's about bloody time! Pier Paolo Pasolini's final and most provocative film has been given new life by the fine people at Criterion, whose mission is to showcase great films that would otherwise be relegated to the alphatetized isles of HMV and the like. Salo, based on the Marquis de Sade's epic "120 Days Of Sodom" has been dusted off, polished up and assembled into a two-disc special edition complete with trailers, making-of docs, and a booklet of essays by Pasolini's contemporaries.

Why am I so excited about this re-release? 

I first read about Salo in John Waters' book "Crackpot: The Obsessions of John Waters", lent to me by my gorgeous friend Kre. I can't thank her enough. In the book Waters lists films he loves and is influenced by, one of which is Salo. Upon reading the synopsis and Waters' critique I became obsessed with seeing this film; a task more difficult than I would've imagined. 

First, Salo was banned in many countries after it's 1975 release. This meant that a DVD transfer was equally rare. So rare in fact that when I located a rental copy at a local arthouse film store I was told a $500 dollar deposit would be required. 

I didn't pay the deposit. For god's sake my cat could've pissed on it by mistake and I'd be in a work camp for the next 12 months!

Without too many details I managed to see a copy and I was transformed! How could this film not be available to anyone with a whim to see it? I wrote emails to Criterion, the original DVD releasers, and begged them for a re-release. Not six months later an email arrived in my inbox informing me that Salo would be back in a special 2-disc edition in late August of 2008. 

That email came in June.  For three months I waited. The timing may have been coincidental, but I feel my email entreaties might've made a difference. 

Anyway, I just finished watching it for the second time and as renowned theatre artist Neil Bartlett says in his essay "Watching Salo" (included in the accompanying booklet), "...to watch the film a second time, remember[...] that it's extraordinary detachment is actually underpinned by a profound fury."

Yeah, yeah, okay; here's the poop! (no foreshadowing intended!)

The film takes place in the village of Salo during the Nazi occupation of Italy in 1944. Four men; the Duke, the Magistrate, the Bishop, and the President (the Four Libertines), inter-marry their respective daughters to each other in a pact which serves as the starting ceremony for several days of debauchery at a private estate. 

Four young men are kidnapped to be soldiers and are then ordered to capture nine young men and nine young women. They are then brought to a remote villa and enslaved by the so-called 4 Libertines to be used in a series of progressively more degrading and violent sexual acts. 

Spurring on the twisted festivities are four middle-aged prostitutes, hired for their lewd storytelling abilities and intended to enflame the Libertines' passions. 

No deviance is ignored. The Libertines' couplings are random; boys, girls, anal, oral, manual... and the scenarios are inspired by the tales told by the whores. At one point two of the captives, a male and a female, are encouraged to fuck, but just as quickly they are ordered to stop and two of the Libertines fuck them both instead. Later, after another whore tells childhood tales of fecophilia a forced banquet of feces is served to all. 

Any captive unwilling to participate is written in a punishment book to be dealt with later, and harshly.

Lesser punishments are dealt with swiftly. Gurgle gurgle :)

Others are kept alive for "deflowering". 

By the end of the film I had laughed, wretched, been in awe, been aroused, and ultimately was entranced (not necessarily in that order). 

Because of it's controversial nature Salo went largely unseen upon it's release. College students might find it in arthouses or collectors might find it upon it's eventual first Criterion release. Otherwise it is considered one of the most shocking films never seen. 

Nowadays shock is a dime-a-dozen. Horror is Hollywood and sex is a mouse-click away. What this film has that none of those others does is the shear beauty of Dante Ferretti's sets, Danilo Donati's luscious gowns and costumes, Ennio Morricone's evocative sounds, and of course Pasolini's vision.

The entire film takes place inside the villa, and we are less passive viewers as intimate accomplices. We might turn away, we may even cover our eyes, but we never press 'Stop' on the remote control. We are as curious as the driver who slows at a traffic accident to check for a mangled corpse. As curious as the watchers at an air-show who salivate, waiting for a crash. As curious as a virgin wondering to what extremes sexuality can go. Pasolini was as brave as Sade himself in presenting this glimpse into the sexuality that dare not speak it's name (to borrow from Lord Alfred Douglas). 

Upon seeing this film for the second time I still feel inadequate to speak to it's themes, although I have my ideas with which I won't bore you. However one line, spoken by the Duke to one of the whores stands out;

"The limitation of love is that you need an accomplice. Your friend well knew that the Libertine's refinement lies in being at once executioner and victim."

There's your theme. 

Salo or The 120 Days of Sodom is available in 2-Disc Special Edition DVD from Criterion.com. 

Also see The 120 Days Of Sodom by the Marquis de Sade