You've probably heard the rumors. Maybe you saw a grainy clip on a late-night forum or read a listicle about the "most disturbing movies ever made" and saw that title sitting right at the top. Salo or the 120 Days of Sodom movie isn't just a film; it’s a physical endurance test. Honestly, most people who talk about it haven't actually sat through the whole thing. It’s easier to treat it like a legend or a piece of high-brow "filth" than to actually look at what Pier Paolo Pasolini was trying to do.
He was murdered before it even hit theaters.
Think about that for a second. The man finishes this absolute nightmare of a film, a brutal, clinical descent into the worst parts of the human soul, and then he’s found beaten to death on a beach in Ostia. Some say it was a random act of violence. Others? They think the movie itself signed his death warrant. It’s heavy stuff.
What is Salo or the 120 Days of Sodom movie actually about?
Basically, Pasolini took a book by the Marquis de Sade—written in a literal dungeon in the 1780s—and moved the setting to 1944 Italy. Specifically, the Republic of Salò. This was Mussolini’s final, desperate stand, a puppet state controlled by the Nazis. It’s a place where law had completely evaporated, replaced by the whims of four powerful men: The Duke, The Bishop, The Magistrate, and The President.
They represent the pillars of society. Church, Law, State, and Nobility.
These four men kidnap eighteen teenagers and take them to a secluded villa. For 120 days, they subject these kids to "rules" that involve sexual violence, psychological breaking, and things involving "waste" that I won't describe too graphically here. It is divided into circles, much like Dante's Inferno: the Circle of Manias, the Circle of Shit, and the Circle of Blood.
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It's not "fun" horror. There are no jump scares. It’s shot with a cold, distant camera that makes you feel like an uncomfortably complicit observer. Pasolini isn't trying to titillate you; he's trying to make you want to throw up.
The "Chocolate" on Set and the Reality of Filming
You’d think the set of a movie like this would be a dark, miserable place. Strangely, the behind-the-scenes accounts suggest otherwise. Gideon Bachmann, a journalist who visited the set in 1975, noted that the atmosphere was oddly professional, even lighthearted at times.
The infamous "coprophagia" scenes? That wasn't what it looked like. The special effects team, led by Sergio Chiusi, whipped up a concoction of Swiss chocolate, condensed milk, and orange marmalade. One of the journalists on set even tried some on a sandwich. It’s a weirdly humanizing detail for a movie that feels so inhuman.
The actors playing the victims were mostly non-professionals. Pasolini often chose "street kids" or people with "real" faces rather than polished stars. He wanted that raw, vulnerable quality. To them, it was a job. To the world, it became a scar on cinematic history.
Why Pasolini Made a "Masterpiece of Disgust"
Why would anyone make this? Pasolini was a complicated guy—a gay Marxist who was also obsessed with the sacred and the Catholic Church. He had just finished his "Trilogy of Life," three movies (The Decameron, The Canterbury Tales, and Arabian Nights) that celebrated sex and the human body.
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But then he got cynical.
He felt that the "sexual revolution" of the 60s and 70s had been hijacked by consumerism. To him, the "liberation" people were celebrating was just another way for capitalism to turn human bodies into products. Salo or the 120 Days of Sodom movie was his "Trilogy of Death." It was his way of saying: "You want sexual freedom? Here is what happens when power has total freedom over the body."
It's an allegory. The teenagers aren't just characters; they are the "common people." The libertines aren't just villains; they are the systems of power that consume us.
Key Themes You Might Have Missed:
- The Banality of Evil: The libertines spend a lot of time talking about art, philosophy, and poetry. They are sophisticated. This makes their cruelty feel even more mechanical and terrifying.
- The Power of the Gaze: In the final sequence, the masters watch the executions through binoculars. We, the audience, are forced to watch them watching. It’s a critique of voyeurism.
- Consumerism as Fascism: Pasolini famously argued that consumer culture was a more effective form of fascism than Mussolini’s ever was because it makes people want to conform.
The Global Ban and the 2026 Perspective
The movie was banned almost everywhere. In the UK, it wasn't officially passed for uncut release until 2000. In Australia, it was tied up in legal battles for decades. Even in 2026, while you can find it on high-end boutique labels like Criterion or BFI, it remains a "blacklisted" title for many streaming platforms.
It’s too much for an algorithm to handle.
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Is it still relevant? Sadly, yeah. When we talk about "human capital" or see how the internet turns bodies into data points for profit, Pasolini’s nightmare feels less like a period piece and more like a warning. He wasn't just talking about 1944. He was talking about what happens whenever one person decides another person is just an object.
How to actually watch Salo (if you must)
If you're going to dive into Salo or the 120 Days of Sodom movie, don't go in expecting a "slasher" or an "extreme" horror flick in the modern sense. It’s slow. It’s repetitive. It’s meant to be exhausting.
- Read the context first. Understanding Pasolini's politics makes the violence feel less like "gore-porn" and more like a political statement.
- Check the version. Make sure you’re looking at the restored versions from the Criterion Collection or BFI. The cinematography by Tonino Delli Colli is actually quite beautiful, in a bleak, symmetrical way.
- Know your limits. There is no shame in turning it off. This film was designed to test the boundaries of what art is allowed to do.
Don't watch it for a thrill. Watch it to understand why one of the 20th century's greatest intellectuals thought it was the only way to tell the truth about power. It’s a miserable experience, but it’s one that sticks with you forever.
If you’re interested in the darker side of film history, your next step should be researching the "Years of Lead" in Italy. Understanding the political kidnappings and bombings happening in the streets while Pasolini was filming will give you a much clearer picture of why the movie feels so genuinely dangerous. You can also look into the "Trilogy of Life" to see the vibrant, joyful filmmaker Pasolini was before he decided the world had gone to hell.