Films That Get History Wrong (1 Viewer)

[Roberto Carlo]

I'm looking for examples of recent films -- in the past decade or so -- that demonstrate a blatant, at least in your estimation, disregard for historical accuracy. I'm not talking about dramatic license. I mean "I don't care what actually happened, I'm gonna tell the story my way" kind of stuff.

I'd appreciate help from all the movie lovers here at HTF. Thanks.

 

[Brian E]

A Beautiful Mind

I'd also say the Doolittle portion of Pearl Harbor, but we've already been down that road a few times.

 

[Steve_Ch]

What's that WWII movie about submarine and the Nazi's encrytion device ? It was only 3-4 years old, the British Navy were the ones that did the "heroic" deed, but the movie had the Amercians Navy instead. The British was really up in arms about how blatant it was (and rightly so). This is probably the worst case of disregarding history that I can think of.

 

[Ben Osborne]

I would say that "Hurricane" is loose with the facts at best, criminally slanderous at worst.

 

[Michael*K]

U-571 Dreadful.

 

[Michael*K]

Almost forgot one more...Fargo.

 

[Luc D]

Could you elaborate on why you would be looking for such films. I'm just curious as to what you plan on doing with this idea. I think it might be interesting to look a film like Shindler's List, which does take historical liberties but is widely acclaimed by most as being a great film.

 

[Ricardo C]

Sorry, double-post
:b

 

[Ricardo C]

Braveheart... Love it to pieces, but it's about as historically accurate as Blazing Saddles.

 

[Matthew_Millheiser]

The Patriot

 

[Greg_S_H]

My Darling Clementine. Considered to be one of the best westerns ever made, I couldn't get past the total disregard for the facts.

 

[Roberto Carlo]

Could you elaborate on why you would be looking for such films. I'm just curious as to what you plan on doing with this idea. I think it might be interesting to look a film like Shindler's List, which does take historical liberties but is widely acclaimed by most as being a great film.

Sorry, I should have told you earlier. I'm working on an article on what I would argue is the increasing lack of historical knowledge in American society. One of the points of departure is a test/survey given to upperclassmen at several dozen prestigious colleges and universities, e.g. the Ivy League, Stanford, Virginia, etc., two years ago. The test featured multiple choice questions about historical events that, presumably, they should be acquainted with. Well they weren't -- to an almost comical degree. Anyway, I'm looking for a possible pop culture angle. I don't believe for a second that movies are to blame for our collective lack of historical knowledge. I'm thinking about citing a blatant disregard as a possible symptom of a larger malady.
Hope this clears things up.

 

[Eric Thrall]

To defend Braveheart a bit, what we know of William Wallace is very limited and much of it may be more legend than reality, so any movie about his life would have to take many liberties. However, they did reorder things quite a bit, make a very important bridge disappear, and have him "involved" with someone who was in real life a bit too young for him, among other inaccuracies.

Personally, I'd guess that it's a simple "it doesn't concern me so why would I care who led the Union Army in the Civil War" mindset that causes the lack of historical knowledge. Most people could care less - it's sad, but true.

 

[John Watson]

Might be easier to get a list of those that get it right
Regarding populations becoming dumber, What we learn from history is that we don't learn from history.
Most people actually need their brains washed...

 

[Alex Prosak]

I completely agree with Brian on A Beautiful Mind. I finally watched it on DVD the other week and then looked up Nash's bio on the internet. I didn't care for the movie all the much, despite Crowe's excellent acting, and after reading the bio I have to say the movie is nearly completely fiction.

Fargo is very far off too.

 

[Ralph Summa]

There's a great series on The History Channel called History vs. Hollywood. I wouldn't doubt it if episodes were available for purchase. What format is available I don't know. Being a Braveheart fan and a History grad, I tuned in for the William Wallace episode. I saw it over a year ago, but what really stands out in my mind was the misrepresentation of the Scottish victory at the Battle of Sterling which Eric alludes to.

The battle was actually the Battle of Sterling Bridge. From what the commentators stated, the only reason the Scots won the battle is that they ambushed the superior British forces on both sides of the bridge and the Brits had nowhere to go and were too cramped to fight. In the movie, of course the bridge did not factor into the scene and my guess is that it wouldn't have worked like the scene that we saw in the movie.


As far as I'm concerned, I don't care because I enjoyed the movie for what it was, entertainment.


Ralph

 

[Thomas Reagan]

JFK ? Maybe a little?
Thos.

 

[Andy Sheets]

Gladiator.
I totally agree with the statement that the list of movies that do stick to the facts is probably A LOT shorter than the list of movies that don't

 

[SteveGon]

Edit: double-post.

 

[SteveGon]

One of my favorite movies is Aguirre: The Wrath of God. Its one drawback is that it plays fast and loose with the facts. Still, it's a powerful film if you can get past that aspect.