Is it OK for Hollywood to bend real world history?

[dave_c]

Is it OK for Hollywood to bend the truth as much as they do? Even though theres a lot of patronising pro-american movies, are they there simply for our own entertainment?

[OBonio]

As more and more films 'based on fact' are produced, sadly the more and more misled some people will become about the truth.  So no, it's not OK.

 

In my opinion Hollywood has a moral duty, if a film is based on truth, to base it on the absolute truth or make it utterly clear that certain parts of the film are made up.  And I don't mean put a little disclaimer at the end that no-one reads or that is too small for it to be seen even at an iMax.

U-571.... need I say more.

[ChocClare]

Well, quite.  A delightful gentleman of my acquaintance served on HMS Petard (which did capture the Enigma machine) so we of course got him U571 to watch.  We thought the air would go blue, but he said he just fell asleep while watching it...

The sad thing is that Hollywood thinks Americans are interested only in things American.  Perhaps this is true - a very small proportion of them have passports, after all.  It's not so much that they bend the truth, more that they leave vast chunks of the truth out.  In Saving Private Ryan you may have noticed that, apart from one tiny refugee French family, there were only Americans (and a few Germans) in France in WWII.  So no, it's not OK, but unless Americans start taking a broader view and demanding change, Hollywood is not likely to listen to us whiny foreigners!

[KebabMeister]

Yeah, it really peeves me when Hollywood change history!  I refuse to watch U-571 and I dredd to think what their new Battle of Britain film is like - guess Tom Cruise will shoot all the enemy down himself even though in RL only 7 American's took part and none shot any enemy down.

[KebabMeister]

@ ChocClare

I didn't mind Saving Private Ryan so much because it was a story entirely from their perspective.  They landed on different beaches to the Canadians and the British so didn't expect them to come into contact with us.  Afterall they only came into contact with a few more American's even.

[jenstar]

I dunno, it's probably a good thing. About eight people have ever actually seen "U-571" but *everyone* has heard all the "this is what really happened" reaction to it. So on balance, it probably did more good than harm.

[LeMarchand]

I don't think British movies are entirely innocent of "bending the truth" either...

[Peter Pedant]

I suppose it all depends on wht you mean by OK and truth.

After 'Gandhi' was filmed, my brother commented to my mother that he didnt know that our grandfather had treated Indians like that. She gently explained in her opinion he hadnt. But there again, after Laurence of Arabia, in the last scenes where Claude Rains plays Dry-Dune, The Political Agent, she commented that grandfather was one of them - any army officer of whatever rank had to do what political agents 'suggested'. My brother grunted at that one.

In the Name of the Father was marred by Emma Thompson who was playing somene who really exists, gareth pierce bawling out the court of appeal. Unfortunately solicitors could not address judges of appeal in court (they can now)

In Schindlers' List, Liam Neelson's Schindler doesnt address the assembled workers in a good-bye speech at the end scene.....

But these are all dramas, and the dramatic action isnt wrecked by these little slips are they?

[jolyna]

I once heard an American tourist remarking at Stone Henge "They built this cos they knew the Americans were coming."

What does that tell you about how the Americans view history. Its all for their benefit.

Joly

[Skellen]

films are all from a perspective, ie name of the father makes the irish out to be innocent of everythinga nd the british to be thugs. Im sure there was truth in there somewhere, but whether it was as " black and white" as they made out is yet to be seen. I feel that if a story, say U571 is going to be told, then the film companies shouldnt cheapen the memory of the people involved, what they did was dangerous and heroic and shouldnt be forgotten. The fact that when the US did capture an Enigma machine the germans were giving them away in Car boot sales is neither here or there!! The bloody US cant just rewrite history