![]() ‘It really does make American Psycho look like Alice In Wonderland.’Īround the world Salo was banned, unbanned, re-banned and refused classification. And of those, some reactions to the film have been: weeping, retching, covering of faces, wishing they could unsee what they saw – along with exhilaration, stimulation, an awakening to the true modern human condition and the chilling recognition of our species’ descent into madness. Yet the film gets a 70% Tomatometer rating which is pretty good. And behind all the ‘fun’ and games, there’s a truly ghastly irony. It’s a bleak comedy where despite all the laughter nothing is funny. In order to gain a snapshot of the truly dark side of our modern collective soul, Pasolini had written and directed a beautifully shot, highly stylized journey into the atrocity of humanity. Salo was made in 1975, set in 1944 Fascist Italy and based on the Gothic novel 120 Days Of Sodom by the Marquis de Sade – born 1740 died 1814. Though the film itself may hold more than one clue. Was his death the result of making the movie? Hard to say. There’s much speculation as to who and why along with rumours of stolen film rushes and extortion bids. The director and intellectual mind responsible for Salo – Pier Paolo Pasolini – was murdered/assassinated/executed before the film’s release. If there is any futility of the making of this film, it’s that its creator never saw it theatrically released – or the 30+ years of suppression of his final major cinematic work. So how would I assess Salo or The 120 Days Of Sodom? I’ll tell you later. I now had a piece of paper confirming I knew my arse from my elbow in terms of screen representation and was able to assess content according to the rating system: G, PG, M, MA, R, RC plus all associated minor rating categories. It was sad though to see people who’d bought tickets for the next session only to have the projector shut down as the official ban on the film in Australia became effective immediately.įlash forward to 2009 – I gained a ‘Certificate Of Completion’ as a Trained Content Assessor from the Australian Government Classification Board. I was thrilled that I got to see it on the big screen before the raid by uniformed police. ![]() It was a sort of very raw Thelma & Louise on steroids. It’s a simple story – two women go on a murderous road trip that doesn’t end well. The end credits rolled and I was still in the throes of the impact this film was having on me and how much it offended people – so much so, it had been banned in more than 20 countries and Australia was just about to join that list. ![]() When the police raided in April 2002, I was sitting on a hard chair illegally added to the aisle of the packed Sydney Chauvel Cinema screening of the highly controversial Baise Moi. But first, let’s set the scene of censoring art. ![]() In 2010 I was given a collector’s dvd edition legally, after decades of a worldwide ban. You’re damned if you see Salo and damned if you don’t. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |