11 Awesome Movies With Disturbing Messages

Troubling...but fantastic all the same.

By Jack Pooley /

Universal Pictures

Why do most people watch movies? To be entertained and have a good time, naturally, and to that end the majority of movies can simply be enjoyed as fun entertainment while offering little under the hood for viewers to meditate on. After all, nobody is watching Keanu Reeves in Speed and wondering what it all means on a broader socio-political level.

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However, many films do have loftier expectations, and in order to not alienate more casual audiences, these headier commentaries will normally percolate below the surface, waiting for knowing audiences to discover them.

In the case of these 12 fantastic movies, many of them Oscar nominees and even outright winners, they're suffused with some jarringly unsettling messages about politics and society at large, regardless of whether each director will actually admit to intentionally sneaking them in there.

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In retrospect, the subversive ideologies may appear rather obvious, but if you're not clued-up, it's easy enough to watch each movie without really thinking about it. Once you know, though, each film will never be the same again...

11. Question Nothing & Have An Awesome Life - Forrest Gump

Paramount Pictures

Forrest Gump is a much-loved movie that not only won the Best Picture Oscar, but has endured over almost 25 years as a feel-good classic with Tom Hanks in his signature Oscar-winning role.

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However, there's a rather unsavoury sentiment cutting through the entirety of Forrest's (Hanks) adventure, which seems to promote an "ignorance is bliss" mentality, where the favoured journey through life is one where an individual doesn't question anything, especially the government.

Throughout the film, Forrest effectively falls from one success to another with his blinkered mindset to the realities of the world, while the decidedly more free-spirited, liberal Jenny (Robin Wright) goes from one misadventure to another until she dies of AIDS. Charming.

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For his part, director Robert Zemeckis has denied any intentional politicised intent behind the film, but given how far Forrest comes simply by doing what he's told and never standing up to protest anything, it's hard not to see the film as a pointed, deliberate commentary on the virtues of our politics and lifestyle choices.