Pasolini

[Chartres]

Everybody knows the Pasolini and Accattone part in "You Have Killed Me". But I wonder if we have any Pasolini fans here or is everyone scared away by the notorious "Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma"?

I can really see why Moz is impressed by him, so terribly controversal you either hate or adore him. Well, atleast you've got to admire his courage to do all the thing he did. Fellini may have done better movies but he's something extra.

 

[Kewpie]

I discovered Pasolini by accident when I was nine years old, around January or Febuary 1976. One of my mother's cousins used to buy film magazines, when we visited them I was often bored and read her mags in order to kill time. Then I found an article of his murder Of course very shocked, but didn't say anything about it to anyone. In fact, he was killed three days before my birthday, incidentally 69th birthday of Visconti.

I was born and raised in a remote area of Japan and hadn't had a chance to watch Pasolini's film until 1989. Japan is the one of the few contries didn't cut Salo- film censorship board just ordered to blurring genitals. To this day I still don't have a courage to watch it, but I've watched many of his films. My favourites are earlier work such as Accatone, Mamma Roma, Hawks and Sparrows, The Gospel According to St Matthew and Theolem. However in UK Theolem is often shown dubbed version in cinema which is really sad... I wonder original Italian version print exists in UK?

I find Ennio Morricone's scores of Pasolini films are superior than Leone's. I really love Hawks and Sparrows' rockabilly tune

 

[El Manzo]

Everybody knows the Pasolini and Accattone part in "You Have Killed Me". But I wonder if we have any Pasolini fans here or is everyone scared away by the notorious "Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma"?

Yes, I am a fan of both his novels and movies.
His less known works of poetry are also very interesting. With 'Le Ceneri Di Gramsci' he was really ahead of his times. His work on italian language was amazing. Not an easy reading though.

It's no surprise that Moz loves him: he truly was an outsider. He was also kicked out of the P.C.I. for his homosexuality and his opinions were often surprising, like when during the italian student demonstrations of the late 60's, he sympathized with the policemen, saying that they were the 'real' poor boys from the poor families from southern Italy. Not a very popular opinion among the people of the 'left' back in 1969!

I am really scared away by 'Salò', I will never find the courage to watch that movie. I only saw one book about the making of it, with some pictures and that was enough. My old grandmother is still horrified by all the things she saw during that period in Italy. It's really hard to realize how far human hate can push itself...

 

[wistful wendy. or worse]

Pasolini was a prophet with an acute sense of history.

Italy was not ready for him, and still isn't.

See "Pasolini, un delitto italiano" by Marco Tullio Giordana for an emotional film on his life, and his murder.

The fascists and philistines of 1975 went along the streets shouting "Uno di meno" (That's one less) after word spread that Pasolini had been killed.

The brutality of the murder was not just aimed at killing, but at dominating any future reference to Pasolini with the imagine of his murder. It clearly was meant to be and to remain an intimidation.

If you don't like Salò, take a look at "Il Decameron" - there's a shot in a church where he's painting (dressed like Michelangelo) where he appears as a genuinely kind, playful, ironic, loving person.

 

[Chartres]

Wonderfull to see that I'm not alone. I discovered Pasolini when my old swedish teacher showed "Decamerone" to sow their taste of humor. And a "friend" of mine is a "Salò" fan (oh yes, they exist) who is constantly talking about it so I have seen it several times. But since I've read the book it's based on, Maquis de Sade's The 120 Days of Sodom, I find the film much "softer". The book is far worser by all means.