Salo

Salo based on the book 120 days of Sodom by Marquis De Sade is a depiction of pure, unadulterated sadism and is hands down the darkest film not just that I have ever seen but that has ever been made in the history of cinema. 
It's the only previously banned film that I've watched that genuinely earns its status, though I'd argue that it is also one that is often deeply misunderstood.

Many reviewers have dismissed Salo as being an inherently unpleasant and evil film which has no merit and exists for no purpose other than to shock and appall audiences whereas I believe that it is a film which depicts evil for a moral purpose,
for how do you properly display the truly horrific nature of fascism without being repulsive?

The story follows a group of young men and women who have been kidnapped by fascist aristocrats and are subjected to increasingly disturbing levels of sexual perversion and physical abuse.
Salo focuses on what happens when a dominating force dehumanises a group of people and strips them of any shred of their identity and humanity.

The sexually deviant nature of the film is what makes it disturbing, though it's not particularly violent in the traditional sense of the word it is a psychologically troubling film and it's supposed to be. 

Its use of sadism isn't gratuitous, which would imply that It's explicit without purpose which it is not, the violence and sexually disturbing content found in Salo serve to demonstrate how truly awful and degrading real life acts of violence and abuse towards innocent people truly are, the abuse presented in the film is uncompromisingly uncensored.

What surprised me about Salo is that there are moments of extremely black comedy throughout the film, which I feel exists to lower the audiences inhibitions before shocking them once again with something truly horrendous. 
The set designs and colour palette used emphasise the disparity between the worlds of the victims and their antagonists, ranging from cold grey prison cells to the lavish surrealism of the fascists mansion house, lavishly decorated with pastel red walls. 

Salo is extremely well crafted and horrifying in both its message and presentation. I won't be watching it again for at least a few years if I ever do and I can't honestly say I'd recommend it to most people, if anyone, not because I don't believe it's worth seeing but because in many ways It is a masterpiece that achieves exactly what it set out to do, bottle the evil that humanity has been capable of, present it to you and make damn certain that you never want to witness it ever again.