When cinema meets history, controversy often follows. Join us as we examine the most debated film scenes inspired by real events! Our countdown features gut-wrenching moments from acclaimed films that sparked heated discussions about artistic license, historical accuracy, and whether some traumas should be depicted at all.
00:03Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at the most controversial and emotionally charged movie moments that were inspired by real history.
00:10The pilots are on the ground. That was the pilots, they're on the ground.
00:14Number 10, Cutting His Arm Off, 127 Hours.
00:18It is a bit of a climb.
00:19We climbed!
00:20And a bit of a squeeze.
00:22This Danny Boyle-directed survival drama tells the amazing true story of Aaron Ralston, a climber who became trapped by a boulder while on a hike in Utah.
00:30The most infamous scene comes when Ralston, played by James Franco, realizes that his only chance of survival is to amputate his own arm.
00:36The film doesn't shy away from the brutality, as viewers are forced to endure every grizzling detail.
00:41It's said many audience members fainted during screenings, with some theaters reportedly needing medical staff on hand.
00:46The controversy wasn't about accuracy.
00:49Ralston himself improved at the depiction, but about whether such an unflinching recreation was too much for general audiences.
00:56Do you have a phone?
00:57Yes, but no signal.
00:58You should stop and rest.
01:02Come on, I've got to keep going.
01:04Number 9, Boston Marathon Attack, Patriot's Day.
01:07Mark Wahlberg stars in this dramatization of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and the intense manhunt that ensued in its wake.
01:13Come on out!
01:16Come on, Zocar, let's go!
01:18And while the film aims to honor victims and first responders, it also sparked a heated debate.
01:22The bombing scene itself, which recreates the explosions near the finish line, is staged with harrowing realism.
01:28Many were vocally divided.
01:44Some felt it was too soon to dramatize such a fresh tragedy.
01:47The film debuted within just three years of the incident, while others praised it for spotlighting resilience.
01:53The fine line between honoring the fallen and exploiting trauma made this scene especially contentious.
01:59Number 8, Bear Attack, The Revenant.
02:01Is it true you killed an officer?
02:08I just killed a man who was trying to kill my son.
02:11Leonardo DiCaprio won his long-awaited Oscar for his role in The Revenant,
02:15and many say it's thanks to the movie's most unforgettable moment,
02:18the brutal bear mauling of frontiersman Hugh Glass.
02:21The attack was inspired by accounts of Glass's real-life ordeal in the 1820s,
02:34and director Alejandro González Iñárritu staged it with harrowing realism.
02:39Short and unbroken takes with excruciating detail,
02:42some critics slammed it for being unnecessarily gratuitous.
02:45You'll be dead inside an hour.
02:46Yeah, we all will be if you don't quit waiting like that.
02:52The intensity even fueled bizarre online rumors, later debunked,
02:55that the bear attack depicted sexual assault.
02:58And since the historical record of Glass's ordeal is murky to begin with,
03:01many questioned whether the filmmakers needed to push the violence as far as it did.
03:06Number 7, The Assassination of Malcolm X.
03:09Malcolm X.
03:10Spike Lee's sweeping biopic builds towards one of the most shocking moments of 20th century history,
03:15the 1965 assassination of civil rights leader Malcolm X.
03:19We didn't land on Plymouth Rock.
03:21Plymouth Rock landed on us.
03:23In the film, Denzel Washington delivers a powerhouse performance as Malcolm,
03:26who is shockingly gunned down inside the Audubon ballroom in front of his family and supporters.
03:32Lee meticulously recreated the incident, even filming at the actual location,
03:36making the sequence even more chilling.
03:38However, it was deemed controversial because of the unresolved questions surrounding Malcolm X's death.
03:43Get your hand out of my pocket!
03:45The film's very inclusion of the event once again brought the continuing historical suspicions to the surface,
03:50this time for a wide audience.
03:55Number 6, Whipping Scene, 12 Years a Slave.
03:58You will refer to me as master.
04:02Now, Mr Chapin is the overseer on this plantation.
04:06You too will refer to him as master.
04:10In Steve McQueen's Oscar-winning film, 12 Years a Slave, we follow the harrowing true story of Solomon Northup,
04:17a free black man kidnapped and sold into slavery.
04:21The film's most disturbing scene comes when Northup is forced to whip fellow enslaved woman, Patsy,
04:27under the command of the cruel plantation owner.
04:29You're doing this to yourself, Patsy.
04:32The prolonged, unrelenting violence may have been historically accurate, but it was incredibly difficult to watch.
04:39Audiences and critics questioned whether such unflinching graphic brutality was truly needed.
04:44Strike her, black striker!
04:45However, many agreed that it was necessary for mainstream Hollywood to confront the atrocities of slavery without sanitizing them.
04:57Number 5, The Hijacking, United 93.
05:00Released in 2006, United 93 was one of the first films to dramatize the events of September 11th, 2001,
05:07focusing on the hijacked plane that passengers heroically tried to retake.
05:10I'm going to go over here and build my nest. You want to go outside and do your hook around?
05:14Yeah.
05:14I'll be with you in about five minutes.
05:18Alright, I'll be here.
05:19Alright.
05:22Naturally, the film's centerpiece is the hijacking sequence,
05:25shot in a nerve-shredding, almost documentary-like style
05:28that made audiences feel like they were aboard at the doomed flight.
05:36Released just five years after the tragedy,
05:38the movie drew criticism for reopening the wounds of the day,
05:41with many wondering if it was too soon to depict the final moments of these real passengers and crew members.
05:47The scene proved just how controversial recreating recent trauma can be.
05:52Tom, you started to scream and somebody said, get out of here, get out of here.
05:56Number 4, Village Massacre, Platoon.
05:58Oliver Stone, a Vietnam veteran himself, sought to show the brutal moral compromises of the war in his 1986 epic Platoon.
06:11In one of the film's most controversial sequences, American soldiers raid a Vietnamese village,
06:16threatening civilians, burning huts and committing atrocities that echo real-life incidences like the My Lai Massacre.
06:22The disturbing realism made audiences confront America's wartime misconduct in ways that many had not done up until this point.
06:29Let's go for it. Let's do the whole f***ing village.
06:32Some veterans also criticized the film for painting soldiers as criminals,
06:35while others admitted it wholly reflected the chaos and moral collapse they had seen firsthand.
06:41Number 3, CIA Torture, Zero Dark Thirty.
07:01You volunteered for this, didn't you?
07:03No.
07:04When Zero Dark Thirty hit theatres, audiences were confronted with some of the most unsettling depictions
07:09of CIA torture ever seen on screen.
07:11I know that you know him.
07:16I told you before, I won't talk to you.
07:18Scenes of detainees being waterboarded, beaten and psychologically broken are shown in graphic, extended detail.
07:26The controversy wasn't just about the brutality, however, but about the film's perceived stance.
07:31Vocal critics at the time accused it of suggesting torture was effective and necessary.
07:35Senators and human rights groups condemned the film for potentially justifying war crimes.
07:40These depictions set off one of the most heated controversies in recent film history,
07:45forcing audiences to confront issues of ethics, accuracy and cinematic influence.
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