Rating: 
Summary: What's the point of all this?
Review: While watching this film, I kept wondering, what's the point of all this? Many reviewers rave that it depicts how cruel and debase humanity can be. My thought, is, duh, really? You don't need to watch this movie to make you realize that, just study all of the human atrocities committed throughout the history of the world. Better yet, pick up any daily newspaper and read about all of the homicides and other criminal acts that occur everyday! There really is no redeeming qualities to this film, I found it to be stupefyingly boring, with stuffy direction and repugnant yet somewhat phony looking violent and sex scenes. I found the number of positive reviews for this film much more disturbing than the film itself!
Rating: 
Summary: An anti-masterpiece
Review: Ever wondered how a film version of Marquis DeSade's "120 Days of Sodom" might be like? "Salo" is the answer. Salo is a film which has been mislabeled everywhere it goes. It has been filed in the pornography section, the horror section, and has been categorized along with films like the "Ilsa" series and "I spit on your grave." Yet those films, which were true exploitation films, are nowhere near as shocking as Pasolini's "Salo." And the funny thing is, there isn't even as much violence in Salo as in the aformentioned films, or even today's films such as those by Tarantino and Stone. Pasolini is no exploitation director - He has receieved many awards and praise for his "updated classics" like the Canterbury Tales and Arabian Nights. "The Gospel According to St. Matthew" received the highest possible rating from probably the stingiest critic today, Leonard Maltin. "Salo", on the other hand, received a Bomb by Maltin. The most controversial elements of this film are mainly the use of underage actors, who are perhaps real teens (not those twenty-somethings Hollywood uses and passes off as teens). They are used as subjects of torture by four cruel, remorseless men which put them through eating excrement, whipping, drinking urine, and, in the climax, torture. The film is also filled with sex, both hetero and homo. Yet, despite all this disgusting matter, the film is directed very masterfully. Shot very realistically, you get the feeling of being a witness to atrocities that were committed in real life at another time in history. The sets are very beautiful, and the torture scenes are VERY realistic, and the tension during these scenes are made even more horrific, credit to ominous growling sounds in the background and a classic score from Orff's "Carmina Burana." "Salo" can even be viewed as an extreme allegory, where the four men represent Fascists, and the teens are victims of fascism. Whether it'd be viewed as trash, allegory, an extreme film on censorship, film adaptation of a nearly unfilmable book, a masterpiece, or even an anti-masterpiece without compromises, excuses, or any happy endings, "Salo" can never be forgotten by anyone who has the chance of seeing it. Unfortunately, the studio stopped releasing the video. There has never been a film before like "Salo", and there probably will never be any more after.
Rating: 
Summary: power corrupts: absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Review: Though still banned in my native England, tonight I finally got to see "Salo" after 25 years of hearing its fearful and mis-represented reputation. Reading through the reviews on the IMD and here on the Amazon site, it seems clear that for many it is a "Must See Nasty" - A film whose graphic imagery of torture, rape, coprophilia, sexual perversion and murder become an endurance test to rate alongside "I Spit On Your Grave" or "Last House On The Left". The truth is that on a purely visually graphic level, it's violence and rape is outdone by 1000 other films. But the emotional and mental impact of the film, it's messages and what it tells us of Man's inhumanity is practically unrivalled. It's hard to express the film's strength and message without lapsing into pseudo-psychobabble, and the layers of meaning and allegory contained within it are too various to list, but to try to put it simply, by using the extremity of deSade and the awful truth of Fascism in Europe, Pasolini confronts the beast in us all. Having lived in Italy during the time of Mussolini, Pasolini saw at first hand the distortion and debasemant of humanity under Fascism. DeSade in turn, celbrated the fact that man's capacity for atrocity was what made us human and could free us - two sides of one awful coin. Many of the scenes have an awful stillness, presented as full-frame tableaux, with the four main protagonists watching the degradations: Pasolini flips this back on us sat in a movie theatre watching the film... For anyone seeking to ask questions about whether or not Fascism, nazism or pure evil still has the capacity to re-occur, and particularly for those people who pretend "it could never happen here again", this is the film to confront them with. It is a multi layered, disturbing, often strangely beautiful film and one that any real fan of cinema should see, to fully experience the power of film to provoke, stimulate and force the viewer into confronting real, painful aspects of humanity. Sorry to get arty, but this film has had more impact on me than practically any film I have seen in the past 20 years. A masterpiece, for real. With recent events in Eastern Europe still fresh in the mind, this film and what it has to say about Human Beings is especially relevant.
Rating:
Summary: One of the most shocking films
Review: It's no wonder that this movie stirs up passions. It's very graphic and it's not for faint-hearted. But in my opinion it's less cruel than some Terrentino movies, like Reservoir Dogs, for instance. In terms of graphic representation of cruelty, it's not even close to some modern movies. The difference is that it has that horrifying suspense - you don't know what will be in the next scene; it's a very sophisticated movie. Also, this film contains an important message - that everyone there is a victim - the governors, the guards and not just the victims/youths. There are no positive characters; maybe only 2 youths who got killed earlier in the movie when trying to escape or for praying to God. I think the purpose was to show what lower depth a human being can reach, torturers with inventing new tortures, guards being stone-hearted and "just doing their job", and victims themselves who gradually turn into obedient sheep where there is no human dignity left. They try to fight for favours from the governors/torturors and any trace of pride is gone; they've turned into animals as well. It takes a while to stomach this movie and to decide for yourself what the author wanted to say. It is not a simplistic film where all thr answers are suggested. It's not a romantic kind of movie, too, so skip if you look for pure light-minded entertainment. By the way, it was not directed by Pasolini, but by his long-time assistant.
Rating:
Summary: Sick
Review: Do not listen to the other reviews on this page unless you like to see the sexual torture of innocent children. This film is beyond art. Pasolini only did this movie to get attention for his political beliefs. Andy Warhol has better film work then this. Watch it once, feel very sick and dirty, then take a shower, and be a better person for understanding that you dislike the movie.
Rating:
Summary: the best exploitation movie ever made
Review: Pasolini is not exactly in love with the humanity in this movie. As a matter of fact, extreme nihilism and misantrophy permeates this movie. None of the victims are portrayed with much sympathy: they are faceless and impersonal. The whole point of this movie seems to be that the acts of the most grotesque imaginable violence can be viewed in an unemotional, detached way as some sort of amusing enertainment. I am not sure I sensed much of condemnation of fascism in this movie. The last scene of this movie is one of the sadists watching the torture and rape of adolescents through binoculars. He almost looks like a director (Pasolini) fascinated by the action happening in front of him that he is directing without any disgust or emotion.
Rating: 
Summary: Shocking, yes, a point, yes
Review: Yes, it may be disturing and it may be shocking and it may be disgusting and we may not like to think about these sorts of things, but they do happen and pieces like Salo serve to remind us of the horrible people that we are capable of being.
Rating:
Summary: Don't shoot the messenger
Review: It's contents are sickening, but the movie only depicts what man is capable of. This movie is merely an exposé. Do not shoot the messenger!
Rating:
Summary: The greatest "amateur" porno EVER made but... ART? duh!
Review: I am no film critic... just an average open minded person. And never could I comprehend where does the "message" in this kind of "art" is... I mean I love the realistic perv. scenes just like the rest of the people... but surely you can't be talking about art in "Salo"! Having said that, I am the proud owner of the VERY RARE Criterion Collection DVD which is the full uncut version with improved picture and sound (I would give a 3/5 for the picture and sound in DVD-terms but much better than any VHS cut I've seen).
Rating:
Summary: One of a Kind
Review: Salo is a very difficult movie to critque. After watching it I felt like a giant hole had been ripped through me. I was upset and disturbed for weeks. I questioned mankind, our role in this world and my very existence. I hated this film and I hated what it did to me. I refused to ever watch it again or recommend it to anyone. But after a while, I realized that no other film I had seen had made me react so strongly. I became curious about Pasolini and his reasons behind making such a disturbing film. Should Salo be heralded as some kind of terrible masterpiece, or should it be panned for being shocking, ugly and upsetting? Indeed, it is a terrible masterpiece. One that I believe many people will never want to face. When something disturbs or upsets us, we must eventually ask why. Inquiry leads to understanding and knowledge. Understanding and knowledge lead to peace and happiness. So in a very bizarre way, Salo made me happy.
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