10 Movies You Should Refuse To Watch On Moral Grounds

9. Goodbye Uncle Tom

The 1971 Italian movie Goodbye Uncle Tom is often thought to be one of the most depraved, racist and unpleasant motion pictures ever made. Watching it, it's hard to imagine what the intentions of the filmmakers behind the movie really were; it is - at once - strange, otherworldly and insanely offensive, and it's ethics are entirely questionable. The plot concerns a group of filmmakers who travel back in time to document life in the American Antebellum, with the intention of depicting the day to day goings-on of slaves and their masters living in said period. The most bizarre thing about the movie is in the extent that it goes to depict African Americans as monsters - it's not history; it's exploitation. When Roger Ebert saw the film, he branded it "the most disgusting, contemptuous insult to decency ever to masquerade as a documentary," whilst Pauline Kael felt that the picture had been designed specifically to ignite a race war; a good enough reason if ever there was one as to why it should ultimately be avoided by all costs - by everyone. Though Goodbye Uncle Tom retains something of an inherent power (perhaps on account of its dream-like atmosphere), there's still no true justification for actually watching it.
Contributor

Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.