Even if you don’t know his name, perhaps you’re aware of Pasolini’s last, and most divisive movie, Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975). During World War II, four wealthy Italians kidnap 18 teenagers, take away their clothes, and subject them to violence and psychological and sexual torture. Inspired by the Marquis de Sade and intended as a critique of fascism, Salò was banned in Australia for several years and represents one of the apexes of taboo-breaking 1970s art cinema.
To be sure, the movies of Pier Paolo Pasolini are not for the faint of heart. The Italian filmmaker whose life and death were as lurid and shocking as his art made films that still carry considerable impact today. A novelist, poet and cultural critic as well as a filmmaker, Pasolini foregrounded sex, politics and the struggles of marginalised people. A dominant and polarising figure on Italy’s intellectual landscape, he criticised what he called the “totalitarianism of consumerism”, scandalised the mainstream with his homosexuality, was expelled from the Communist Party, and eventually met his end in horrific and unsolved circumstances.
To mark the centenary of Pasolini’s birth in 1922, the Italian Institute of Culture is presenting a retrospective of nine of his movies. As well as Salò, keep an eye out for The Gospel According to St Matthew (1964), a biblical movie done in the Italian neorealist style that is strange and fascinating and easily one of the best Christian-themed films ever made.
This is a rare opportunity to experience some of the excitement of what movies could achieve back when cinemas were places of inquiry, debate and subversion. Come prepared to be challenged, and possibly outraged.
