Movies have really annoyed people over the years. There was once a time when they were so unpopular among polite society that the mayor of New York tried to ban movie theaters altogether. Yet, they’ve persisted, irritating and offending people throughout history. Some films, however, push the envelope a bit too far, and these are the works that end up going down as some of the most contentious artistic endeavors in history.
With this list, I’ve compiled the worst offenders. Also I don't share same opinion and I don't agree with hidden messages of this list of movies.
10. The Interview
From just watching The Interview, you would hardly imagine it deserved a place on this list. As a film, it’s in the same vein as many other Seth Rogen and James Franco comedies: a winning combination of gross-out humor and male bonding. That said, it does contain a political twist, as real-life North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un (Randall Park) is portrayed as a misunderstood, Katy Perry-loving soul who bonds with a hack TV journalist (Franco) who is assigned to interview him in North Korea, along with his producer (Rogen).
Though movies and TV shows like Team America and 30 Rock have often mocked Kim Jong-il, Kim Jong-un’s father and predecessor, The Interview may have touched a nerve with the young despot. In December, a group called the “Guardians of Peace” hacked Sony Entertainment and threatened to carry out terrorist attacks if the film was released. When major theater chains dropped the film, Sony released it digitally instead, potentially costing themselves millions in box office revenue.
9. The Passion Of The Christ
Mel Gibson’s controversial adaptation of the Gospel, The Passion of the Christ, was released in 2004 to sharply divided reviews and accusations of anti-Semitism. Nevertheless, it went on to earn over $370 million at the domestic box office, becoming the highest-earning religious film and the highest-earning R-rated film of all time. Even Deadpool couldn’t beat it! (Though the Merc with a Mouth managed to top its global take by a staggering margin of $171 million.)
Why was it so controversial? Well, for starters, it is extremely violent, and consists largely of scenes of Jesus being tortured before and during his crucifixion. It was also targeted by the Anti-Defamation League, who read an early script and determined that it presented an unfair and offensive depiction of Jews. While the final film eased some worries about the film’s depiction of the Jewish people, Mel Gibson’s off-screen behavior only added to the controversy when he was quoted saying anti-Semitic things during a DUI arrest a few years later. Mel Gibson hasn’t stopped being a controversial figure, but The Passion of the Christ is still revered by many Christians.
8. Song Of The South
Well, it’s racist.
Released in 1946, Song of the South uses live-action segments to frame an animated story about cartoon rabbits. These segments star James Braskett as Uncle Remus, a jolly older black man with a penchant for song in the Reconstruction-era South. These segments were criticized, even in Jim Crow-era 1946, for their demeaning depiction of African-Americans, and attracted the scorn of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People for its whitewashing of the history of race relations.
Over the years, its reputation has preceded itself, and Disney, a company that prides itself on being family friendly, has declined to release it on home video, meaning very few people have actually seen the film in question. Nevertheless, some of its songs, including the Oscar-winning “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” have remained a part America’s cultural memory.
7. I Spit On Your Grave
If you’re making a film within a genre known as “rape-revenge,” you’re probably going to end up upsetting some folks. I Spit On Your Grave is probably the most notorious entry into the sub-genre. It follows Jennifer (Camille Keaton) as she travels alone to rural Connecticut, hoping to get some writing done. While alone, she is attacked by the locals, gang-raped, and then left for dead. But she manages to survive and casts her vengeance on the rapists, picking them off one-by-one.
The centerpiece of I Spit On Your Grave is the seemingly endless 30-minute gang-rape scene at the beginning. It is… not pleasant, although the last half of the movie is satisfying in a weird kind of way, as Jennifer doles out justice to the hillbillies who harmed her. Some have reappraised the film as a feminist text, focusing on the main character’s agency as she avenges herself. Nevertheless, the film was banned in several countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland and Australia.
6. Cannibal Holocaust
Back in the late-’70s and early-’80s, cannibal films were all the rage… at least for low-budget European exploitation filmmakers. One of those filmmakers was Ruggero Deodato, who made the faux-documentary Cannibal Holocaust in 1980. Before making the picture, Deodato made his actors sign agreements promising that they would not make any public appearances until the movie had been released, but that came back to haunt him when rumors came up that Cannibal Holocaust was actually a snuff film.
Deodato was arrested for obscenity and murder, and was only cleared when authorities confirmed that the actors were actually alive. Still, the film was banned in his home nation of Italy, along with many other countries. And while Deodato did not kill his actors, there were animals who were killed onscreen in the film, making it a target for animal rights activists. Even Deodato has shown remorse for this, and it almost certainly wouldn’t be permitted by any production company today.
5. Twilight Zone: The Movie
This is another case where the circumstances surrounding a movie proved to be more controversial than the film itself. This adaptation of the popular anthology TV show — featuring segments directed by John Landis, Steven Spielberg, Joe Dante and George Miller — faced a barrage of criticism after a helicopter explosion on set killed two child actors, as well as actor Vic Morrow.
Landis, who was directing the scene in question, was accused of putting the actors into an unsafe situation. In the ensuing trial, it was discovered that the child actors were hired illegally to circumvent California labor laws, and that they were working at night, which was against the rules guiding the use of child actors. In the end, new laws concerning aviation safety were passed, while Landis was tried and acquitted of manslaughter. Spielberg also broke off his friendship with Landis, claiming that there were things more important than making sure you get your shot in the end.
4. Titicus Follies
In 1967, acclaimed Direct Cinema documentarian Robert Wiseman turned his eye toward the Bridgewater State Hospital for the criminally insane. He made Titicut Follies, which shows inmates being neglected and abused by the hospital staff. It also showed staff force-feeding patients and one scene of a guard taunting a vulnerable, naked man. Overall, it was a shocking exposé of the way in which the facility treated those who are disabled, and it shed a light on the mental health industry as a whole.
The film caused a stir, but after a short initial release, the Massachusetts Superior Court ordered it withdrawn from release on the grounds that the film violated the privacy and dignity of the patients. Wiseman had received permission to shoot from the hospital superintendent, but the Court banned the film anyway, restricting its viewing to professionals in health-related fields. In 1991, however, the ban was overturned and the film aired on PBS the next year. Today, it’s remembered as a classic of the genre.
3. The Last Temptation Of Christ
Yet another controversial film about Jesus! When this Martin Scorsese film came out, critics were baffled by the odd casting choices, including David Bowie as Pontius Pilot, Willem Dafoe as Christ himself, and Harvey Keitel — Brooklyn accent included — as Judas Iscariot. But the real controversy came from religious groups who were shocked by the content of the film. In a later scene, as Jesus is on the cross, he is “tempted” by a normal life, and the film shows him coming down from the cross and making love to Mary Magdalene.
Of course, people are rarely pleased when sex is combined with religion, and so the film was met with deep resistance from Evangelists and Catholics. One far-right Catholic group even set fire to a theater showing the film in Paris, severely injuring a number of people. Still, the film has gained a reputation for being a thoughtful look at the moral struggle between humanity and divinity within Jesus, and rather nicely predicts the quiet, meditative Silence.
2. The Birth Of A Nation
A film that valorizes the Ku Klux Klan becomes a huge, nationwide hit and even gets screened at the White House? It may be hard to believe, but it happened. D.W. Griffith’s landmark, three-hour epic The Birth of Nation was controversial for its racism even in 1915. Set during and after the Civil War, the film glamorizes the rise of the KKK, who (according to the film) “restored” order during the Reconstruction of the South.
Of course, African-American groups protested the film, but that couldn’t stop it from becoming an enormous success. As the first true Hollywood epic, Griffith’s film is recognized for its place in the history of cinema, though it was perhaps over-praised for its artistic innovations. (It turns out that Griffith didn’t invent all the editing techniques that he claimed to have.)
Notoriously, the film also inspired the revival of the KKK as an extremist white supremacist group. For his part, Griffith claimed he wasn’t a racist. Yet the film, featuring white actors in black face behaving as broad, hypersexualized caricatures of black men, says otherwise.
In 2016, actor Nate Parker made another film called The Birth of a Nation, which tells the true story of slave Nat Turner, who stages a rebellion in the antebellum South. It was meant as a sort of reclamation of the title. Despite high expectations, the film became controversial in its own right, however, when it was discovered that Parker was tried for rape as a college student.
1. Last Tango In Paris
Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1972 film Last Tango in Paris has become a source of controversy recently, after a video surfaced of Bertolucci claiming the movie’s infamous rape scene was not consensual. The scene, featuring Marlon Brando and a then-19-year-old Maria Schneider, involves a stick of butter, and it’s uncomfortably intimate in its violence. Schneider had previously claimed that the scene felt like a violation.
Bertolucci later clarified that it was only the use of butter that came as a surprise to Schneider, and that she was informed and had consented to the “violence” that is portrayed. He also refuted the persistent rumor that the sex in the film was real. Nevertheless, the initial video received Twitter rebukes from stars like Jessica Chastain, Lena Dunham, and Chris Evans.
It probably shouldn’t come as a surprise to Bertolucci, however, as the film was quite controversial on its initial release, too. He was even charged for obscenity in his native Italy for filming the notorious sex scene.