20 Most Controversial Movies Of All Time
2. The Last Temptation Of Christ
Race, politics, violence and sex all cause plenty of uproar, but when it comes to creating controversy, religious issues typically seem to trump everything else. So Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ, adapted from an already controversial non-biblically based novel by Nikos Kazantzakis, was always destined to be a divisive film, especially amongst the higher ups in the Christian community.
Last Temptation tells the story of Jesus the man rather Jesus the divine, and in doing so, takes some large liberties with the story put forth by the Bible. The film acknowledges that it's not based on scripture, but rather functions as an attempt to explore and understand the struggle between Jesus humanity and divinity. For fans of the film, that struggle created a portrait of Jesus that was deeply moving and relatable, far different from many previous visions of his life on the screen.
But a late sequence in which Satan tempts Jesus to come off the cross, showing him the life he could lead as a normal human being (which includes images of him making love and raising a family) caused (predictably) enormous uproar. The outrage from the religious community was rampant, and reached a peak when a group of French fundamentalist Christians attacked a theater showing the film in Paris with Molotov Cocktails, injuring several moviegoers.
Numerous critics, and even some religious leaders, found the film fulfilling and interesting, and though it is a relatively small chapter of Scorseses career, it remains a passionate topic for those who support or condemn the film.