Salo, Or The 120 Days Of Sodom

Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini

£22.51

Year: 1975
Country: Italy
Language(s): Italian
Subtitles: English
Length: 112 mins
Format: PAL | R2
Colour: Colour
Aspect Ratio: 1.85: 1
Certificate: 18
Alternate Title: Salo, O Le 120 Giornate Di Sodoma

Synopsis

Presented fully uncut and in its most complete version, the film has been re-mastered from the original Italian restoration negatives.

Pier Paolo Pasolinis final and most shocking film has been banned, censored and reviled the world over since its first release in 1975. Salo did not receive UK certification until late 2000, when it was passed uncut. The BFI then released it on DVD in 2001 and, despite having been out of print for almost three years, the title still ranks amongst BFIs all-time top 10 best-selling DVDs.

The films content and imagery is extreme and it retains the power to shock, repel and distress even today. A brutal allegory based on the novel 120 Days of Sodom by the Marquis de Sade, the film is a cinematic milestone - culturally significant, politically vital and visually stunning.

Disc one - Salo
- Complete and uncut, re-mastered from original Italian restoration negatives.
- Original Italian language version (with optional English subtitles).
- Original Italian trailer (with optional English subtitles).
- Coil - Ostia (the Death of Pasolini) The original 1986 track from Coil’s celebrated
second album, Horse Rotorvator, with a newly created video accompaniment, shot especially for this release by Peter Christopherson.

Disc two
- Open Your Eyes! (2008, 21 mins). Newly created on-set documentary using full colour footage shot in 1974 by acclaimed film journalist and Pasolini expert Gideon Bachmann.
- Walking with Pasolini (Roberto Purvis, 2008, 21 mins). New documentary exploring the meaning and impact of Pasolini’s film, with Neil Bartlett, David Forgacs, Noam Chomsky and Craig Lapper (Chief Examiner, BBFC).
- Whoever Says the Truth Shall Die (1981, 58 mins) Philo Bregstein’s classic documentary on the life and death of Pier Paolo Pasolini.
- Fade to Black (Nigel Algar, 2001, 24 mins). Documentary with Mark Kermode exploring the ongoing relevance and power of Pasolini’s controversial masterpiece, with Bernardo Bertolucci and other leading directors.
- Ostia (Julian Cole, 1991, 25 mins, with optional director commentary track) Cole’s rarely seen short film about the last days of Pasolini, starring Derek Jarman.

Special Features

Extensive illustrated booklet including:
- Newly commissioned essay by Sam Rohdie (Italian film scholar and author of The Passion of Pier Paolo Pasolini).
- Sight & Sound feature by Gideon Bachmann incorporating his on-set diary.
- 1979 review of the film by Gilbert Adair.
- James Fermans (BBFC) letter of appeal to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
- Pasolini biography by Italian film specialist Geoffrey Nowell-Smith.
- Photographs of Pasolini at work on set.
- Cast and credits for the film.