DRO wrote:
> 
> Salo: 1975 Dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini
>        I found this movie very disturbing. Enough in fact, that I sold
> the laserdisc. I found the movie not the most violent or sexual I had
> seen, but with those two elements, and along with the human degradation
> depicted in the film, it was too much for me. The film is a adaptation
> of the de Sade's novel, set in WWII in Italy, where the fascist rulers
> of a small town kidnap and sexual abuse a
> group of teenagers. The teenagers are both male and female, so the movie
> depicts homosexual and
> heterosexual acts on these juveniles. The movie also shows the teenagers
> being forced to eat feces and be degraded in other ways. In the end the
> adults torture and kill the teenagers for there own sexual satisfaction.
> 
>         The film is just a waste of film stock and I wondered what kind
> a  "sick bastard"
> would make it. After some study, I was surprised to find out that
> Pasolini was an acclaimed director, poet, novelist, and political
> speaker. But he did have a problem; he liked to pickup young male
> prostitutes, and this was his down fall. Not long after the film was
> finished he was murdered by a young hustler, although some claim it was
> a political assassination committed by several men.
>          I think he put on screen his fantasies with this film, and they
> were very twisted. I wonder what would have happened to his career if he
> had lived.

This strikes me as a pretty unsavory interpretation of Pasolini and
"Salo."  The connection you make between the director's homosexuality
and his supposed "fantasies" of human and sexual degradation is pretty
questionable.  It's been awhile since I've seen the film, but from what
I remember, it was designed as an indictment of fascism; just because
Pasolini never flinches from the torture and humiliation brought upon
these teenagers doesn't mean he endorses this treatment.  Quite the
opposite.

"Salo" is not my favorite Pasolini (I especially like "Accatone" and
"Gospel According to St. Matthew"), but I don't think it's a waste of
film stock either.  He's a great director, worth further investigation.  

Scott