Pier Paolo Pasolini (March 5, 1922 â?? November 2, 1975) was an Italian poet, intellectual, film director, and writer.
Surprised he's not on here already, because his death, it was murrrrder.
A good-looking gay renaissance man, he ruffled feathers throughout his career with his section of RoGoPaG being censored and obscenity charges being brought against him, likewise Accattone (his most famous work) upset conservatives and Salò is still controversial to this day. However, his The Gospel According to Saint Matthew is considered the best cinematic adaptation of the life of Jesus. He was clearly a man ahead of his time, unafraid of reflecting the reality of life, I think because he had had much of his life taken from him after he was charged with corruption of minors and obscene acts in public places (during his time as a teacher, before he started making films). He lost his job, was expelled from the Communist party and forced to flee the Friulian countryside he had grown up in and move to Rome with his mother. There followed years of unemployment - after this, he had nothing to lose.
In 1975 he was brutally murdered by being run over several times by his own car. Personally, I reckon there was someone in it. Joke. It happened on the beach in Ostia. Giuseppe Pelosi, a 17 year old hustler was arrested and admitted to the murder. In 2005, after 30 years in prison, he retracted his statement! He claimed 3 strangers with a southern Italian accent did it because of Pasolini's communist views. The investigation was reopened and has caused much suspicion among Pasolini's friends of it being a contract killing, as the secret services stepped in to investigations and related documents lacking coherence. Apparently, in the months before his death, Pasolini had had meetings with, and made certain politicians aware that he knew certain secrets. There was also a possible extortion as some rolls of film from Salo had been stolen and Pasolini was planning to meet the thieves to buy them back. Another person said he had told them he knew the Mafia wanted to kill him and yet another friend says that he planned his own death as the perfect expression to give meaning to his oeuvre. A kook? Personally I think the government did it, but then I never do trust governments. The case is now closed but wide open for speculation (as you can see).
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Originally Posted by Genevieve
