Has the Movie Industry made any historically accurate 'historical' films ?

[Duthill]

I like a good yarn as much as the next bloke , fiction or otherwise
But when a fictional embellished movie is passed of as a true account it pisses me off big time


What say you all ?

[ScotSites]

Has the Movie Industry made any historically accurate 'historical' films ?

I haven't watched too many historical films, but based on the few I have seen the answer to that appears to be "no"! However, it only really p's me off if the film is presented as being historically accurate; however, if a film is just based on historical events and/or a person then that is a different matter... if people then choose one of those films to be a true representation of an actual person or events then the problem lies with those people!

Of course, seeing as this is a forum about Scotland, lets look at that classic of the "lets present a fictional account as reality" category: Braveheart! Most people that I have discussed it with admit to liking the movie in itself; most of them are aware that it is a fictional account; some who have seen it have let the historical inaccuracies spoil it for them (maybe at times to such an extent that they themselves need a reality check - how much do we truly know of the life and exploits of William Wallace that are not based on the embellished accounts written down by Blind Harry?); some even credit the film with kick-starting the fight for Scottish independence (tho those who fought for that through the years and decades before the film came out might argue on that one) and claim it is how we ended up with our own (albeit devolved) Scottish Government! Anyway, the question we need to ask is whether this particular film is fiction passed off as fact or just a damn good story turned in to a film; the answer to that lies with the author of the original book/screenplay (I'm not sure which actually came first), Mr Randall Wallace; anyone who ever read the book will read very early (as in the start of the 1st chapter) that he has the death of Alexander III of Scotland happening in 1276... that says it all for how much research that man did: ergo the film was never going to be historically accurate even if he (RW) thinks it is! Personally I watched it first time and knew early on which category it fell in to (as far as I am concerned anyway), but I enjoyed it all the same - and have done every time I have watched it!

At the end of the day, the film industry is there for two reasons: one is to makes movies; the second (and probably more important, for them anyway) is to make money... and if it wasn't for the latter then the former wouldn't happen! So what do want to see? Movies or accuracy? I'll plump for the first as without that you won't get much chance to see the second!

[wullie m]

Re' Braveheart, are the vans which are seen crossing the Ballachulish Bridge, if only for an instant! historically accurate?

wullie.

[Duthill]

Originally Posted by wullie m

Re' Braveheart, are the vans which are seen crossing the Ballachulish Bridge, if only for an instant! historically accurate?

wullie.

No they weren't Wullie .
To be true to military things medieval they should have been Vanguards

[ScotSites]

Originally Posted by Duthill

they should have been Vanguards

Over here those Toyotas are known as RAV4s!

[Duthill]

Originally Posted by ScotSites

Over here those Toyotas are known as RAV4s!

That one went straight over your head eh

[Lachlan09]

Originally Posted by ScotSites

Over here those Toyotas are known as RAV4s!

Sorry to divert a tad, but here in Oman, CRV's, SUV's often have a multi-coloured flash along each side of the vehicle. They look like transfers and are not nearly as seamless and shiny as the rest of the new bodywork. To my mind, these yucky-coloured flashes look cheap and nasty and detract from the looks. Perhaps these ill-matched coloured flashes are stuck on at the dealership afterwards ?

Have you seen the flashes on the sides of the RAV 4 ? On the left side is a lightning flash and a void containing the alpha-numerics RAV 4. On the right side, a similar mirrored flash, but the RAV 4 is turned around to be readable. However, some cheap-skates who for some reason cannot obtain the right-side flash use the left-side flash on the right. As a result, RAV 4 appears backwards ! There's a lot of them on the roads here like that !

Sorry for this - now back to Braveheart !