Re: Caligula
The rat (or mouse) and chariot scene was never meant to be cruel by Tinto Brass but the "Penthouse editing" made it in to something else (as it did with the whole movie).
"For only a moment, we catch a glimpse of Caligula playing with an adorable little pet rat who is harnessed to a rather beautiful little toy chariot. This was nowhere in the script, and so we can safely conclude that the rat and the toy chariot were last-minute improvisations. Later on, the editors and sound recordists and mixers added the sound of the rat howling in distress, giving us quite a wrong impression of what Caligula is actually doing. Next time you watch this scene, shut off the sound so that you can pay more attention to the visuals. You will see that the rat had no objections at all." (
http://rjbuffalo.com/tinto5.html)