With The Human Centipede hitting cinemas, Movies.ie takes a look at five controversial must-see movies!
Cannibal Holocaust
Controversy: Cannibals, dismemberment, rape…
Film crews travel to South Africa and fall victim to a group of cannibals. Filled with gang rape, and dismemberment, this “Blair Witch” documentary film was bound to cause controversy. So controversial, the actors of the movie had to testify on the director’s behalf when officials thought this was a real life occurrence!
THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST
Controversy: Religion, brutality, anti-semitic, Mel Gibson…
In good old Catholic Ireland, who doesn’t know the tale of the last days of Jesus Christ… Mel Gibson attempted to produce an unflinching depiction of Christ’s suffering on behalf of mankind. Prior to its release the film was both praised and denounced sight unseen amid reports that the film wasn’t just brutal, but compromised by dubious biblical interpretation and anti-Semitic sentiment…
NATURAL BORN KILLERS
Controversy: Murder, Mayhem, Copycat killers
Homicidal lovers (played by Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis) go on a murderous trip through middle America. Intended as a satire on the media, the film inspired several copycat killers with over 12 murders linked to the movie. One victim’s family even tried to sue Stone and Warner Bros.
A CLOCKWORK ORANGE
Controversy: Rape, violence, social uproar
Teen troublemaker/gang rapist Alex (Malcolm McDowell) is brainwashed by a futuristic English government so that he becomes deathly ill every time he encounters violence. The movie first landed an X rating and was deemed pornographic across the U.S. was nothing compared with its reception in the U.K.: Social uproar and reports of copycat crimes led Kubrick to withdraw Clockwork from distribution in his adopted country.
TRIUMPH OF THE WILL
Controversy: Nazi, Propaganda, Hitler
Riefenstahl’s notorious documentary of the 1934 Nazi rally at Nuremberg. Still a subject of scholoarly debate, Leni Riefenstahl’s documentary is both viewed as a masterpiece of film making and propanganda for the Nazi regime…’