There is no easy way to write about or discuss this film. It is the kind of film that has such a divided and controversial history. It is also one of the most difficult films to watch. It is a challenging to interpret. A viewer who is not put off by the intense sexual and violent content of the film, may be left scratching their head as to what the film is trying to say. I can’t say for sure that I liked this movie, it’s not the kind of film that one simply likes or dislikes. This is a movie that invades the viewer’s concious and lives on long after it has faded to black. And for that alone, it is a film that should be studied.
The plot is simple. Four powerful men who seem to run everything in a small Italian town decide to capture eight young men and eight young women to hold captive in a large mansion. The film is set in 1944, right at the end of the Facist rule of Italy, and the four men are the most tyrannical of fascists. They take their victims to a beautiful, sun-drenched villa, and announce to them that they will be put through Hell for however long as the four men decide. Each day they are forced to listen to graphic stories told by a prostitute about her various encounters, while the men pull certain captives aside and do with them what they will.