4. Submission
One of the greater controversial films on the list, Submission saw the death of its director, Theo van Gogh, for his views on Islam. The film focuses on four Muslim women (all played by the same actor), who detail the abuse they received at the hands of their community, and especially their husbands. Not just this portrayal of abuse, but also the sexuality of the woman’s naked body seen through her chador, with painted verses from the Koran all over, sparked an incredible outrage. Only ten minutes, the film was enough for Mohammed Bouyeri, a Dutch Muslim of Moroccan descent, to shoot, stab, and mutilate Van Gogh; ultimately leaving a note on his corpse, held there by the embedded knife. The letter called for Jihad. The response? Tens of thousands gathered to mourn the death of the director. Then people began firebombing mosques, and Muslim schools… this violence was then met with attacks on Christian churches. Well known Muslim defector Ayaan Hirsi Ali (writer of the short film) said this, in response to the insult and outrage by the Muslim community: “If you’re a Muslim woman and you read the Koran, and you read in there that you should be raped if you say ‘no’ to your husband, that is offensive. And that is insulting.”
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