Pier Paolo Pasolini considered himself first and foremost a poet. But his poetic vision was of people who lived on the edge of society or outside the law, a vision that carried over into his filmmaking.

Regarded abroad as one of the foremost filmmakers of his generation, Pasolini, was also, according to Susan Sontag, "indisputably the most remarkable figure to have emerged in Italian arts and letters since the Second World War." His personal vision was of a world of violence and sexuality, ranging from the shanty towns and city streets of contemporary Rome to the moral fantasies of Boccaccio and the Arabian Nights. His films are portraits of outsiders in violent struggle with their society, much of that concern reflecting his own inner turmoil.