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POLYESTER TOTALLY WEIRD SHIT! Some of my favourite films include Performance, Pink Flamingos, anything directed by Jacques Tati and Mike Leigh, and also Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Salo, the 120 Days of Sodom. Are these cruel visions of man’s inhumanity towards other members of the human race? It holds up a mirror to our face and says you know these people are you. If you had unlimited power what would you become? The film is heavily regarded as a masterpiece, an adaptation of the Marquis de Sade’s the 120 days of Sodom transposed to Salo in Northern Italy, during the Nazi-Fascist occupation. Salo is a film on another planet from typical Hollywood fare. A writer on the Internet Movie Database said SALO comes across as one long primal scream of rage, designed to shake the viewer out of his complacency, and in this respect, the film succeeds unequivocally. Whether or not you would care to watch this more than once, or indeed for ‘entertainment’, is another matter, but SALO is an important film that demands a careful viewing ONLY by those prepared for it. Acclaimed director Michael Haneke named the film one of his ten favourite films. The Village Voice named it the 89th greatest film of the 20th century. MUFF regular Melbourne’s Bill Mousoulis was so moved by the film that he wrote a web page devoted to Salo: Prolific film writer Alberto Pezzotta said “Salò is a film, which one doesn’t see with impunity”. Now we cut to the chase, if you don’t already know, you are forbidden to see Salo in Australia. First banned in 1973, it was briefly given an R rating in 1993 before being banned again. Earlier this year Shock Entertainment re-submitted it and the OFLC voted to refuse classification. Hence our presentation of 3 documentaries Salo: yesterday and today, Fade to black and The end of Salo, we are forbidden to show the real thing If you haven’t already seen Salo somehow, these documentaries will give you a good idea of the power of this film. Say NO to censorship! Curated by Paul Elliot **PLUS** PASOLINI THE PORNOGRAPHER When Pier Paolo Pasolini released his cinematic swan song “Salò o le 120 Giornate di Sodoma” (Salò or the 120 Days of Sodom) in 1975 it was immediately met with overwhelming controversy, religious and political vilification and criminally enforced banning in many countries, including its native Italy. It was lauded as an entity existing purely to exhibit sadistic torture and Pasolini was accused (outright) of promoting (in implication) child pornography. However as the decades roll on and taboos continue to be reinvented as mainstream entertainment and a Saw movie is churned out every year, Salò and most of its contemporaries in outlaw cinema (Cannibal Holocaust, Pink Flamingos etc) have enjoyed a renaissance in the forms of distribution, public screenings and re-evaluation as art as opposed to cheap exploitation. And while Salò sits on shelves in most countries the world over, able to be purchased and appreciated for the brutal metaphors and commentaries it contains, political, social and metaphysical, in the so-called “larrikin nation” Salò still has the highest of uphill battles to combat. Pasolini the Pornographer attempts to uncover the true beliefs behind the banning of Salò in Australia from the mouths of the men in the halls of power who strive to keep this dark and important piece of cinema history locked away from Australian eyes and the few who oppose them, and how in the 21st Century it is still considered too dangerous and psychologically detrimental to allow this film to be viewed by Australian adults.
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