3. Salo/The 120 Days Of Sodom
When a film's called The 120 Days of Sodom a paragraph on why it was banned starts to become somewhat redundant. It's literally called The 120 Days of Sodom - of course it was banned! Weirdly for a film whose title suggests nothing but sodomy, there's actually not that much of it - certainly not 120 days worth; in any other circumstances I'd be angered and complain about false advertising, however it's a definite relief not to have to go through such a drawn out ordeal. Piere Paolo Passolini's final film (he was murdered shortly after production) tells the tale of four corrupt fascists who take 18 boys and girls prisoner in 1943, submitting them to all sorts of atrocities. The film's most offensive and memorable scenes depict coprophagia (which means "eating poop"), genital mutilation and repeated sexual violence (an unfortunately recurring phrase in this article). While many of the film's scenes are deeply disturbing, the political sub-text to the film (exploring political corruption and fascistic abuse of power) lends a semblance of artistic credit to the film's controversial content; many revered critics and filmmakers consider this to be one of the finest film's ever produced. However, this political sub-text was unsurprisingly lost in translation and the 1975 film remains banned to this day in many countries, including Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. Considering that the film was made nearly forty years ago, its enduring shock/gross-out factor is genuinely very impressive.