To kick off this most daunting of endeavors, I figured I would start off with one of the movies I have been most curious and interested in wanting to see. "Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom" reigns as being, at least in conversation, one of the most controversial movies of all time. Based on the eighteenth century writings of the Marquis De Sade, the story is adapted to Italy, 1944 and ripe with Fascism.
The film focuses on four men of varying status; The Duke, The Magistrate, The President, and The Bishop. One of the first lines uttered in the film, by The Bishop, is, "All's good if it's excessive." and that phrase alone completely sums up the plot of the film. These four men specifically choose eighteen young people, 9 boys and 9 girls,and bring them to a seemingly secluded palace,along with maids and soldiers, for four months of perversion, humiliation, and eventual execution. They are joined by 4 middle aged women, 3 of which share stories of their excessive lifestyles and experience while the fourth plays piano interludes along with the stories. Each story told entails a different primary theme, each of which gets specifically explored. These stories mirror, in their own perverse way,Dante's Inferno; The Anteinferno, The Circle of Manias, The Circle of Shit, and The Circle of Blood.
Each story is told in a large common area, with the captive young people in various states of dress and undress, with each of the older women telling stories meant to arouse the four gentlemen, as they have the young ones at their complete disposal, sometimes taking them into rooms on the side, often making them participate in acts right there with the group. As the days wear on, the mental states of the boys and girls seems to be somewhere between denial, survival, and absolute breaking point. There is a lot in the movie that makes it so controversial, but I feel most of that is in idea rather than execution. Personally, things of a sexual nature don't bother me as it seems to bother most. I feel like, especially with Americans, sex is still such a taboo thing that we also constantly are bombarded with, that anytime it can be used in a way to provoke thought or any other feeling than the norm, I am compelled to say, "job well done." The sex depicted is never graphic itself, but the filming of the movie, made in 1975, lends a bit of realism that most movies nowadays could never pull off, just on picture quality alone.
With the other stories comes the introduction of shit as food and aphrodisiac,including a scene that the new cover (photo shown) is taken from. Ultimately, violence,torture, and death arrive for all those that broke the rules (yes, there were rules!) or refused to participate in the acts as they went on. At the same time as these horrible acts are occurring, watching the movie itself reveals it to be quite visually compelling in the way it was filmed. Nearly every shot filled with symmetry, looking almost "Kubrick-like" at time and the whole film feeling like its been washed in the color gray adds depth to the horrors your subjected to. The director, Pier Paolo Pasolini, cited the film as being a political statement and also metaphorical in its depictions. The director himself was murdered before being able to supervise a finalized version of the film. The nature and content of the film being so controversial and appalling to most found the film to be banned in many countries, even still to this day. Luckily, you can get it in America.
Personally, I came away liking the film. Many people told me to prepare myself for the worst, and with years of having read various reviews and stories, I may have had the movie on too high a pedestal for what I was expecting. The thing I always try and keep in mind with movies is the time period they were made. Thinking about this coming out in 1975 makes the subject matter and depictions that much more profound then they would seem in cinema today. The other wonderful thing about movies of that era, specifically the horror movies of the seventies, is that the violence and other atrocities aren't glorified as they are in modern cinema. Yes, those things are assuredly why people watch "Salo", but whereas with "Saw" or "Hostel" where audiences hoot and holler for the kill scenes, "Salo" depicts these acts as the perverse, vile things they are. You don't feel happy seeing them. You feel bothered and uncomfortable, as you should. On this level, the movie shines. It spends the whole movie pushing the freedom of excess while at the same time painting it in such a dark, filthy light. Definitely not a film for the faint of heart, the weak stomached, or the close-minded. "Salo" is an experience all its own if you are willing to take the ride.
No comments:
Post a Comment