A DVD version of Italian sadist film Salo has been given approval by Australian censorship authorities, but the federal government is pushing to have the decision reconsidered.

On Tuesday the Classification Board approved the distribution of Salo O Le 120 Giornate Di Sodoma Salo (The 120 Days of Sodom), overturning a 1998 decision to ban the film.

The board gave the film an R18+ rating and compelled it to carry a warning that it contained ''scenes of torture and degradation, sexual violence and nudity''.

But yesterday federal Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor asked the classification review board to reassess the decision, though he did not say if he wanted it overturned.

The 1975 Pier Paolo Pasolini film tells the story of four fascists in Mussolini's Italy who kidnap teenagers and subject them to violence, sadism, sexual and mental torture before they are each executed.