Without knowing much about the subject, I think that you are partly right, although at that time there was still a great moral panic regarding violence in the cinema.
I don't think it is anti-aesthetic that there is violence in a film of this kind, rather it adapts perfectly to the meaning of the plot.
Hey Stellar_, I think what stuck in my craw is how this country (the U.S.) (in 1972 and certainly, today) is so squeamish about nudity and explicit, yet perfectly legal, acts of sexuality, but the same standards are not in place when it comes to depicting violent, and wholly illegal, acts of murder and torture.
Without knowing much about the subject, I think that you are partly right, although at that time there was still a great moral panic regarding violence in the cinema.
I don't think it is anti-aesthetic that there is violence in a film of this kind, rather it adapts perfectly to the meaning of the plot.