March 31, 2005 - Stax here with the most "Controversial" edition of The Stax Report yet! Today's column will spotlight some of the most talked about, beloved and despised motion pictures in cinematic history. Some were box office blockbusters, some just art house darlings, but they all still provoke heated debate in many circles:

The Passion of the Christ, 2004, dir. Mel Gibson. Perhaps the most controversial of all time (or at least in recent memory), Gibson's gruesome depiction of the arrest, trial, scourging and crucifixion of Jesus (James Caviezel) divided critics and filmgoers alike (despite the picture's incredible success at the box office). Is The Passion an artist's profession of his religious faith? An anti-Semitic diatribe? A glorified snuff film? All of the above? As with any controversial picture, one should see watch the film and judge for themselves.

JFK, 1991, co-wr/dir. Oliver Stone. Someday when they write Stone's obituary, this is the film they'll mention in the headline. Stone's self-proclaimed "counter-myth" to the Warren Report suggests that President Kennedy was the victim of a coup d'etat engineered by the nebulous "military-industrial complex." Their motive? Kennedy's intention to pull out of Vietnam, which infuriated his anti-Communist enemies and would cost defense contractors millions of dollars. Controversially mixing documentary footage with dramatizations, JFK is an epic assault on The Establishment (and the senses).

Stone's all-star film is a thriller (or, as he puts it, a "whydunit" rather than a "whodunit") following New Orleans D.A. Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) as he leads the only prosecution ever brought in the assassination of JFK. Garrison charged shady businessman (and CIA operative) Clay Shaw (Oscar-nominee Tommy Lee Jones) for the crime but Shaw was ultimately acquitted. JFK is paranoid, provocative, brilliant, preachy, entertaining, and guaranteed to tick off somebody for some reason – not unlike its director.

Regardless of your feelings about the film, its conclusions and Stone himself, there's no denying the power and importance of JFK. Everyone should see it and then do their own research to reach their own conclusions. JFK was such a landmark film that it caused (some) long-held top secret files on the assassination to be declassifed and released. The stellar cast includes Kevin Bacon, Joe Pesci, Sissy Spacek, Jack Lemmon, and Donald Sutherland.

Fahrenheit 9/11, 2004, dir. Michael Moore. This wildly controversial (but hugely successful) pseudo-documentary provides a lop-sided but searing indictment of President George W. Bush's handling of the war on terror, from 9/11 to Iraq. Moore argues that not only is Bush an illegitimate president but that he governs solely through fear and guile, rewarding corporate (Big Oil) and political (Saudi) allies who are endangering America. While Fahrenheit 9/11 may be a biased hit piece that's gotten into trouble for not having all of its facts straight, thoughtful viewers of all political persuasions should have much to discuss after seeing it. Hopefully, they'll also research some of Moore's claims and not simply believe everything he says in the film.

Straw Dogs, 1971, dir. Sam Peckinpah. Dustin Hoffman plays David Sumner, a meek American mathematician living in the British countryside who must defend his home and wife (Susan George) from a band of vicious locals. Straw Dogs was banned in the U.K. for its graphic violence, including a now infamous rape scene.

The Last Temptation of Christ, 1988, dir. Martin Scorsese. This hugely controversial adaptation of Nikos Kazantzakis' novel stars Willem Dafoe as a very human Jesus and Harvey Keitel as a sympathetic Judas. What made this "street" version (the Apostles all sound like they're from Brooklyn) of Jesus' ministry and crucifixion such a firestorm is that it speculates what might have happened had Christ succumbed to Satan's final temptation and not sacrificed himself. Jesus imagines that he marries Mary Magdalene (Barbara Hershey), has children and lives to old age. But he ultimately rejects Satan's temptation and fulfills his destiny by dying on the cross.

Triumph of the Will, 1934, dir. Leni Riefenstahl. This still-controversial propaganda piece records the 1934 Nazi Party Convention in Nuremberg. Triumph is the ultimate valentine to Adolf Hitler, portraying him as nothing less than a god on earth, from his aerial introduction to his climactic speech.

German-born Leni Riefenstahl was a female pioneer in filmmaking who became the Nazis' foremost purveyor of propaganda. She forged personal relationships with both Hitler and Josef Goebbles. Although she was personally reviled after World War II, Riefenstahl's films remain almost universally regarded as aesthetically stunning. Her most well known works, such as Triumph of the Will and The Olympiad, are still taught and discussed in film schools.

Natural Born Killers, 1994, dir. Oliver Stone. Based on an original screenplay by Quentin Tarantino, this hugely controversial gorefest satirizes America's (and the media's) disturbing fascination with crime and fame. Mickey and Mallory Knox (Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis) go on a thrill-killing spree and become national celebrities in the process. Robert Downey, Jr. plays the sleazy TV tabloid journalist who acts as their starmaker, Tommy Lee Jones is a prison warden, Rodney Dangerfield is Mallory's dad, and Tom Sizemore is sicko cop Jack Scagnetti.

Mississippi Burning, 1988, dir. Alan Parker. This Oscar-nominated film stars Gene Hackman as a no-nonsense Southern career FBI agent and Willem Dafoe as his by-the-book partner. They're investigating the disappearance (and murder) of three civil rights activists in a brutally racist Mississippi town. Their investigation leads them to the KKK and to the town sheriff's wife (Frances McDormand) who knows more than she can reveal.

Critics slammed Mississippi Burning for altering history and for making white FBI agents the heroes of the story when it is well known that J. Edgar Hoover despised blacks (and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in particular). Critics also fault the film for portraying black people as too scared and helpless to defend themselves, and for casting white Southerners in a stereotypical light. Admirers of the film credit the performances of its cast and its visceral depiction of one of America's worst times.

Last Tango in Paris, 1972, dir. Bernardo Bertolucci. Paul (Marlon Brando, who largely improvises) is a widowed American in Paris who becomes involved in a sexually raw and emotionally disturbing relationship with Jeanne (Maria Schneider). This art-house fave features infamously frank sexual content (butter anyone?) and some powerhouse performances by its leads. It remains one of the seminal films of the 1970s.

A Clockwork Orange, 1971, dir. Stanley Kubrick. Based on the Anthony Burgess novel, Clockwork follows sadistic, Beethoven-loving thug Alex (Malcolm McDowell) who, along with his "Droogs," enjoys "a little of the old ultraviolence." This spree lands Alex in prison where the state's Ludovico behavior modification treatment is just as horrific as anything he's done. Released from prison, Alex has been stripped of his defenses and soon becomes targeted by his past victims. After some copycat crimes were committed in Britain, Kubrick pulled the film from distribution there for the rest of his life.

The Birth of a Nation, 1915, dir. D.W. Griffith. One of the most historically important but controversial films ever produced, Griffith's epic blockbuster practically invented the visual vocabulary that all subsequent filmmakers still employ but its subject matter has forever branded the picture as racist propaganda. Nation follows two families – one Northern, one Southern – during the Civil War and Reconstruction. When ex-Confederate Ben Cameron (Henry B. Walthall) returns home, he's dismayed that carpetbaggers and African-Americans have taken over. So he helps organize the Ku Klux Klan to fight back and restore order. The film's depiction of blacks remains painful and shocking over 85 years later. Griffith was reportedly dumbstruck by people's reactions so he made Intolerance his follow-up.

SEND ME YOUR FEEDBACK!