Salo, Or The 120 Days of Sodom/Fun Facts

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< Salo, Or The 120 Days of Sodom
Revision as of 01:55, 13 December 2020 by JKData (talk | contribs)
  • Based on The Marquis de Sade's infamous novel The 120 Days of Sodom.
  • Salò has earned a reputation among some film scholars for being the "sickest film of all time",with some citing it as an early progenitor of the extreme cinema subgenre, alongside the American film The Last House on the Left (1972).
  • Salò was the seat of government of the Italian Social Republic, a Nazi Germany puppet state that existed from 1943-1945. Pier Paolo Pasolini's brother died there during World War II. The events depicted in the film didn't happen, but Pasolini sought to draw a parallel between de Sade's 18th Century France, Italy in the 1940s, and the modern world.
  • The film was banned in the following countries:
    • Italy, later re-rated "VM18."
    • Ireland, never re-rated.
    • Finland, later re-rated "K-18."
    • Malaysia, later re-rated "18."
    • Norway (1976-2003), re-rated "18" (2005)
    • West Germany, later re-rated "18."
  • The film has been interpreted as an attack on heterosexuality, fast food (the infamous shit-eating scene), and on the audience themselves, in the event that any of them might enjoy the horrors presented or identify with the libertines.
  • Pasolini was murdered shortly before the film's release.
  • Actress Hélène Surgère claimed the mood was actually rather jovial on the set and that none of the teenage actors were actually harmed or traumatized. She said the abundance of teenagers who had never acted before led the mood to be happy and at times, even fun, with the cast often playing practical jokes on each other. She also said that the movie was literally "made" in the editing room and the filmmakers had no idea how grim a movie it was until they saw the finished product at the premiere.
  • The film was parodied on the South Park episode "Red Hot Catholic Love" via the scene of priests leading children around on leashes.
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