Benjamin Cote

2/21/2017
Period 6

Sal, or the 120 Days of Sodom

Sal is a 1975 Italian art film by Pier Paolo Pasolini. It is an adaptation of the famed
erotic novella, 120 Days of Sodom, by French author and libertine, Marquis de Sade
(from whom the term sadism was coined). The work was intended to be a satirical
response to the philosophies of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, particularly the idea of mans
inherent goodness.

The plot of the film revolves around four powerful libertines in the Republic of Sal in
1944 who abduct 18 young adults and teenagers and subject them to half a year of
mental, physical, and sexual torture inside of a secluded mansion. Without going into too
much detail, the four men engage in increasingly egregious sexual deviancy that
culminates in the death by torture of most of the victims. The sovereigns also interlude all
of the humiliation and sodomy with discussions referencing philosophy, art, literature,
and the place of fascists as the true anarchists, all of which completely justify their
actions in their own minds.

Similar to the political commentary of its source material, Sal is a critique of fascism
under the rule of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, as well as late stage capitalism (of
which the director, having been strongly affiliated with communism, equates as one and
the same). As such, I will be focusing on the allegorical relationship between the subject
matters of this film and aspects of life under fascist rule in 1970s Italy.