10 WTF Moments In Film You Won't Believe They Got Away With

2. Familial Sexual Abuse

The Film: Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971) There's no doubting that Melvin Van Peebles' blaxploitation classic is a hugely important film in the grand history of provocative cinema, as well as in the general history of American film-making. It is aggressively motivated, with an eye firmly on "the man," and consciously sought to reclaim the portrayal of black American characters in cinema, earning itself an X Rating and cult status in the process. It's undoubtedly a good thing that the film exists - it was a watermark moment in film-making - but that isn't to say it doesn't still pack the kind of punch that leaves audiences' jaws dropped. The issue here is not merely that of content - which itself is controversial and self-consciously provocative - it is also of context. The scene that regularly attracts the most controversy, and which was heavily edited by the BFI on release in the UK, is the opening one, which features a young (underage) Sweetback, earning his nickname, thanks to his sexual prowess and endowment while losing his virginity to a prostitute. It all would have been fine if Melvin Van Peebles hadn't decided on continuing with his provocative agenda, and using his own underage son in the extremely realistic sex scene, and it is that context, and the realisation that young Mario hadn't exactly volunteered for the job that make the scene all the more jaw-dropping.