Based on the Marquis de Sade's novel, 120 days of Sodom, and transposed to Fascist Italy circa 1944, this is Pasolini's most controversial work. Pasolini observes with unflinching gaze the systematic humiliation and torture of beautiful young boys and girls, herded into a palatial villa by various jaded, sadistic members of the wealthy upper classes. According to the director, the story was meant to be a metaphor for Fascism, but the revolting excesses shown on screen coupled with the fact that the victims seem complacent in, rather than resistant to, their ordeals, suggest murkier motives in making the movie. Relentlessly dark and shocking it is a film that defies the normal cinematic conventions, awesomely disturbing, an experience worth having, but more than understandable if you fear to tread there.