1. Birth of a Nation
Easily the most interesting - if infuriatingly racist - film on this list is D.W. Griffith's legendary 1915 propaganda piece Birth of a Nation, a pure product of its time that stands as a potent reminder of just how different things were 100 years ago. Throughout, black people are denied their own agency, with white actors instead playing them in blackface, running around like fools, with their central occupation being to sleep with as many white women as possible. The Ku Klux Klan are, of course, depicted as heroic here, and you'll be unsurprised to hear that Griffith's film was in effect positioned as a recruitment video of sorts, purporting that blacks want to keep whites down - a ridiculous statement if we ever heard it - and that they must be done away with as a result. It's a horrifying, but endlessly fascinating film, important to remind us of how far we've come, and how hatred can spread far and wide if left unchecked. Have any other movies left you angry at their blatant racism? Let us know in the comments below.