Salo or the 120 Days of Sodom [2 Discs] [Criterion Collection]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

The final work of notorious Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini, this film updates the Marquis de Sade's most extreme novel to fascist Italy in the final days of WW II. Dispensing with the novel's meditations on sexual liberation and the search for truth, Pasolini presents four decadents who kidnap dozens of young men and women and subject them to the most hideous forms of torture and perversion in an isolated villa. Rape, murder, and a coprophagic banquet are only the beginning of the atrocities on display. Photographed by Tonino Delli Colli, the film also features a lavish score by Ennio Morricone. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 2
• Audio: Dolby Digital Mono
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 (Theatre Wide Screen)
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Subtitle: Eng
• Features:
  • Disc One - New, restored high-definition digital transfer
  • Optional English-dubbed soundtrack
  • Theatrical trailer
  • Disc

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Paolo Bonacelli - The Duke
       Giorgio Cataldi - The Bishop
       Umberto Paolo Quintavalle - Chief Magistrate
       Aldo Valletti - The President
       Caterina Boratto - Signora Castelli
       Elsa De Giorgi - Signora Vaccari
       Helene Surgere - Signora Vaccari
       Sonia Saviange - The Piano Virtuoso
       Sergio Fascetti - Masked Victim
       Bruno Musso - Masked Victim
       Antonio Orlando - Masked Victim
       Claudio Cicchetti - Masked Victim
       Franco Merli - Masked Victim
       Umberto Chessari - Masked Victim
       Lamberto Book - Masked Victim
       Gaspare DiJenno - Masked Victim
       Giuliana Melis - Female Victim
       Faridah Malik - Female Victim
       Graziella Aniceto - Female Victim
       Renata Moar - Female Victim
       Dorit Henke - Female Victim
       Antinisca Nemour - Female Victim
       Benedetta Gaetani - Female Victim
       Olga Andreis - Female Victim
       Tatiana Mogilansky - Young Woman
       Susanna Radaelli - Young Woman
       Giuliana Orlandi - Young Woman
       Liana Acquaviva - Young Woman
       Rinaldo Missaglia - Young soldier
       Giuseppe Patruno - Young Soldier
       Guido Galletti - Young Soldier
       Efioso Etzi - Young Soldier
       Claudio Troccoli - Collaborator
       Fabrizio Menichini - Collaborator
       Maurizio Valaguzza - Collaborator
       Ezio Manni - Collaborator
       Paola Pieracci - Procuress/servant
       Carla Terlizzi - Procuress/servant
       Anna Maria Dossena - Procuress/servant
       Anna Recchimuzzi - Procuress/servant
       Ines Pellegrini - The slavegirl
       Marco Bellocchio - The President (Dubbed Voice)
       Laura Betti - Signora Vaccari (Dubbed Voice)
       Michel Piccoli - Voice of the Duke (French Version)
       Caterina Bonacelli

• Director:

  Pier Paolo Pasolini

• Producer:

  Alberto Grimaldi

• Screenwriter:

  Pier Paolo Pasolini, Sergio Citti

• Book Author:

  Marquis de Sade

• Cinematographer:

  Tonino Delli Colli

• Composer (Music Score):

  Ennio Morricone

• Musical Direction/Supervision:

  Ennio Morricone

• Editor:

  Nino Baragli, Tatiana Casini

• Production Designer:

  Dante Ferretti

• Costume Designer:

  Danilo Donati

REVIEW:

• Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom is an intensely challenging film, an endurance test which some will find provocative and rewarding, but which many are likely to find repulsive and repugnant. Viewers should be warned: this is not an easy film to watch by any stretch of the imagination. The entire film is a series of increasingly violent and humiliating exercises in sadism, which become increasingly graphic as the film progresses; the final "Circle of Death" is excruciating to view. Yet it is not simply the explicitness of the decadence and cruelty on display that makes Salo the uniquely disturbing experience that it is. Indeed, other films are more graphic in this area. But these other films tend to present these experiences in an ironic, campy or otherwise contextual manner that lessens their impact. Salo takes a purposely distancing view, a "hands off" approach that is much more harrowing and that relentlessly drives home its intended atmosphere of hopelessness and impotence. Its creator, Pier Paolo Pasolini is intent on getting across his message that there are depths of humanity that are intensely vile and repulsive and that to ignore the existence of this can only lead to its re-emergence and domination. He is also making implicit statements about how this depravity is a feature of both Fascism and capitalism. Pasolini purposely makes Salo a disturbing and disgusting experience to drive home his points; whether a viewer feels that sitting through two hours of sadism in order to absorb this point is worthwhile or not will influence his reaction to the work. Objectively, however, it can be said that Pasolini's intentionally static direction is impressive, as is his ability to create tension despite this static quality, and that {Torino Delli Colli}'s cinematography and the physical production are stunning. ~ Craig Butler, Rovi