Abbreviated Wikipedia Biography [With Astrology by Sy Scholfield]:
Pier Paolo Pasolini (March 5, 1922 – November 2, 1975) was an Italian poet, intellectual, film director, and writer. Pasolini distinguished himself as a poet, journalist, philosopher, linguist, novelist, playwright, filmmaker, newspaper and magazine columnist, actor, painter and political figure [Pasolini used his Mars in Sagittarius in the 10th House to achieve much in various fields]. He demonstrated a unique and extraordinary cultural versatility, in the process becoming a highly controversial figure [Angular Mars and Uranus can make for a controversial life].
Early Life
Works
He then directed the black-and-white The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964). This film is widely hailed as the best cinematic adaptation of the life of Jesus (Enrique Irazoqui). Whilst filming it, Pasolini vowed to direct it from the "believer's point of view", but later, upon viewing the completed work, saw he had instead expressed his own beliefs [Uranus in 1st ruling 12th = expression of one's own beliefs through the medium of film].
In his 1966 film, Uccellacci e uccellini (literally Bad Birds and Little Birds but translated in English as The Hawks and the Sparrows), a picaresque - and at the same time mystic - fable, he hired the great Italian comedian Totò to work with one of his preferred "naif" actors, Ninetto Davoli. It was a unique opportunity for Totò to demonstrate that he was a great dramatic actor as well [Naive Vesta conjunct Moon, ruler of 5th, the House of Dramatis Personae].
The late 1960s and early 1970s were the era of the so-called "student movement". Pasolini, though acknowledging the students' ideological motivations, thought them "anthropologically middle-class" and therefore destined to fail in their attempts at revolutionary change. He went so far as to state, regarding the Battle of Valle Giulia, which took place in Rome in March 1968, that he sympathized with the police, as they were "children of the poor", while the young militants were exponents of what he called "left-wing fascism". His film of that year, Teorema, was shown at the annual Venice Film Festival in a hot political climate, as Pasolini had proclaimed that the Festival would be managed by the directors themselves [Uranus rising in Pisces can make for not just a cinematic rebel, but also a campaigner for filmmakers' rights to self-representation].
In Teorema (Theorem, 1968), starring Terence Stamp as a mysterious stranger, he depicted the sexual coming-apart of a bourgeois family (later repeated by François Ozon in Sitcom). Later movies centered on sex-laden folklore, such as Boccaccio's Decameron (1971) and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (1972), and Il fiore delle mille e una notte (literally The Flower of 1001 Nights, released in English as Arabian Nights, 1974). These films are usually grouped as the Trilogy of Life. His final work, Salò (Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom, 1975), exceeded what most viewers could then stomach in its explicit scenes of intensely sadistic violence. Based on the novel 120 Days of Sodom by the Marquis de Sade, it is considered his most controversial film. In May 2006, Time Out's Film Guide named it the Most Controversial Film of all time [Sex-and-violence planet Pluto trine Uranus, ruler of the 12th (the House of cinema), manifested in Pasolini making sex-laden, violent films. Pluto at the apex of a cardinal t-square just added to the controversy].
Death
Giuseppe Pelosi, a seventeen-year-old hustler, was arrested and confessed to murdering Pasolini. Thirty years later, on 7 May 2005, he retracted his confession, which he said was made under the threat of violence to his family. He claimed that three people "with a southern accent" had committed the murder, insulting Pasolini as a "dirty communist".
Following Pelosi's retraction, the investigation into Pasolini's death was reopened. The murder is still not completely explained. Contradictions in Pelosi's statements, a strange intervention by Italian secret services during the investigations, and some lack of coherence in related documents during different parts of the judicial procedures brought some of Pasolini's friends to suspect that it had been a contract killing. His friend Oriana Fallaci exposed inefficiency in the investigations, writing in Europeo magazine. Many clues suggest that it was unlikely that Pelosi killed Pasolini alone. [In March 2010, former mayor of Rome and national opposition leader, Walter Veltroni, wrote in The Independent, Italy’s biggest daily newspaper, that Pelosi did not act alone, and that there could be evidence linking up to five accomplices and/or other parties entirely to Pasolini’s violent death. Veltroni's article appeared while transiting Pluto at 5 Capricorn hung on Pasolini's natal 11th cusp, suggesting murder by a group rather than an individual. Meanwhile, transiting Pluto was exactly square Pasolini's natal Saturn in 8th, ruler of his 11th]
Significance
The director also promoted in his works the concept of "natural sacredness," the idea that the world is holy in and of itself. He suggested there was no need for spiritual essence or supernatural blessing to attain this state. Pasolini was an avowed atheist [Religious Jupiter in the no-nonsense 8th House ruled by Eris in the last degree of Pisces in the 1st House (seeing the world as holy in itself)].
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