9. The Devils (1971)
Ken Russell's The Devils is one of those movies that seems almost specifically engineered to generate arguments.
It combines religion, politics, sexuality, historical drama and graphic imagery into one spectacularly provocative package.
The production itself is enormous and visually extravagant, while Russell's filmmaking style is anything but restrained.
A modern filmmaker could certainly tackle the same historical material.
But recreating the exact combination of Russell's visual excess, the period in which the film was made and the particular cultural atmosphere surrounding it would be extraordinarily difficult.
It's the sort of movie where you watch it and think:
“Someone actually got a studio to make this?”
And then you remember they did.
In 1971.
