Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975) | Analysis - Is the Film a Masterpiece or Museum Piece? 

watched Salo for the first time on Sunday night.. a revolutionary artist such as Pierre exposes the tradition of how a power structure operates to prep and prime young ones to follow in the evil tradition.. This tradition has been happening so long its shown in the lifespan of the teenager turned guard they take away.... The most beautiful symbol of the film was the guard putting his fist up before he dies.. Showing he is not afraid of the evil... Even the evil entity itself was shocked by his stance... This film is one of the most important because it shows the debauched stance the elite has and views everyone beneath their power structure..It speaks volumes in ways how they will maintain this tradition of destroying mankind... The girls who speak about cant going on are lovers.. They are trying to make it through on their own love... The girl who cries for her mother invigors the men so much because its the complete opposite to their sociopathic attitude torward anything embodying love.. hence men and women having sex.. Why the most extreme rule that was broke was the guard with the black servant.. That was the most pure entity of love or the moment when the two kids forced to marry were about to "deflower" were stopped because that is one rule not to break... The end speaks a powerful metaphor to the tortures of the inquisition inside the vatican and how roman catholic men in structure behave... This film alone marked his own death... RIP Pierre Pasolini

I think your critique is missing the angles of observation that is necessary for this film. You mention "abuse of power" a few times as the theme. And it is. It's a depiction of real life dramas that do happen in similar ways carried out by trauma-induced families that are alive in the structures of power of our world. The "Libertines" are not abusing power to extreme measures just because they can. The must, it's why they've created an entire ritual out of this. They have already been abused, trauma based insanity, The stories they tell and their mannerisms suggest they are the result of trauma. During Roman times, and mentality of the elite was violent and indulgent and has carried over in the royalty, and inner elite still committed to the days of old; pedophilia, kidnapping, torture, murder, and more. . .This is the context that will expand on the significance of this film. the usual film critics' artistic themes and symbolisms can't carry the films intent very far. I agree that the film lacks a sense of pace and not much said by the libertines makes much sense to anyone of a rational mind. What takes place in the film is mostly for shock value, their is no real purpose for any of it than some inside details of what may have taken place inside the estate of vlad the impaler, Ivan IV, Leopold II, Elizabeth bathory, etc. the Marquis de Sade was sadistic predator as well. There is nothing much of intrinsic value, I would have also have liked to see more emotional reactions from the abused. I would've withheld some of the nudity in exchange for more camera movement with individuals, giving life to the characters and also have shown more quiet isolated scenes with the libertines to give us a range of personality quirks and their acquired tastes. The entire film is filled with beautiful camera shots, color and unforgettable scenes that without the separation into verse/chapters and the character monologues, wouldnt have given all of its storyline flaws a poetic feeling, rather than a "movie." Passolinis films are all like this, they feel like poems.

A movie where children are abused is not upsetting and awful enough for you!?

This film is very similar to Eyes Wide Shut, they have quite a few parallels. They both allegorically in their meanings with accurate depictions of similar activities that exist in the elite power structure. Both directors died after immediately after finishing (Kubrick died suddenly after presenting his final cut.) Both films have confiscated reels, (Warner cut over 20 minutes of EWS, Salo had stolen reels and Passolini killed by those who stole them when he went to retrieve them, the actual murderers are unknown. There are movies all about corruption, rarely is there ever a crime story where the antagonist is NOT someone in power. The justice system almost always provides justice when the corruptors are apprehended. True stories that involve large scale crime are sometimes resolved, many times not. (I.e. Spotlight). But eyes wide shut and Salo are different, they involve the unfathomable.

Thanks to you both.

while I understand all the dislike this film gets, I enjoy it quite a bit. There's nothing else like it. Its so interesting to me because of how bizarre it is. It explores imagery that most films never use. When's the last time you saw a movie that had imagery of fecal matter served at a dinner, or naked boys being walked like dogs in the same film? It could stand well on its own as a study of fetishism. The use of sexuality as an artistic device has been way underused in all creative fields. Erotica is a genre ripe for innovation, and I hope film makers and story tellers will take up the medium with greater enthusiasm in the future.

Human centipede is harder to watch

It is so sad that Pasolini went off the deep-end with his movie Salo. I absolutely loved his previous movies and saw him as an innovator. His Trilogy of Life is breathtakingly beautiful and you do relate with the characters. It is so sad that Salo is basically a distortion of what he did in his Trilogy of Life. There is nothing beautiful about Salo. Boredom and disgust are basically the bottom line of this movie. What was Pasolini thinking??? Unfortunately, when the movie veered into the feces area, I flipped the movie off and threw the dvd into the garbage in total disgust. To this day, I have no interest in knowing how this boring movie ended. If Pasolini thought disgust would make his audience stick with the film, he was totally decadent and did not see reality. If you read the book about Paolini's life that is out there, (can't think of the name and author?) you come to know how decadent Pasolini really was. His supposed killer was a pickup that went bad. Salo is a sad representation of a work of art that went bad!!!