11 inaccurate films based on real stories

Films based on real stories have to be believable, right? Don't they owe those people who have those names and lives to do them justice? Sometimes. But just as often, films that are "based on a true story" do not tell the whole truth.

We've rounded up some of the most popular true-to-life movies that are simply full of lies.

11 PHOTOS

1. Braveheart.

Known to be historically inaccurate, the story of Scottish hero William Wallace is rife with problems. For starters, the term "braveheart" is usually reserved for Robert the Bruce. In addition, the kilts featured in the film were not worn in Scotland for centuries after the events of this story. Wallace was not born in poverty.

2. Pearl Harbor.

A story about two real army lieutenants, but only their names are true. Their actions and personal lives are soap opera stuff rewritten for a big-budget show. The portrait of the Japanese is also distorted, making them savagely hungry before the war. And the way radios are used and the total number of activities on the day of the attack is unrealistic. Little of this happened.

3. Pocahontas.

Obviously, a Disney animated film won't be historically accurate, aside from the names. Historians regard most of the film's romantic details that exist in many places in pop culture as a myth.

4. Captain Phillips.

The dramatization of the hijacking perpetrated by Somali pirates off the coast of Africa bears little resemblance to the truth. Phillips (played by Tom Hanks in the film) recklessly contributed to the incident by ignoring security protocols.

5. Amadeus.

The Mozart biopic impressed critics enough to win an Oscar in 1985, but that was not because of his accurate historical research. Instead, the main theme of the film is an imaginary rivalry between the main composer and his teacher Antonio Salieri (F. Murray Abraham). The film begins with the latter cutting his throat and confessing to killing Mozart. But violence is an exaggeration of an actual incident. Salieri was also not old and lonely in the last years of his life. He had eight children and a wife.

6.300 Spartans.

300 Spartans is another film that we all understand as a fictional version of the story. However, facts are mixed with falsehood, so it is important to know what is real in the film. And a lot of that is factual. A small band of Greeks did hold off a huge Persian army for three days before being betrayed at Thermopylae. But a lot of blunders were also made. Xerxes, for example, was bearded and was not near the battle. He was not some sexually controversial god-king with beloved panthers. There were no ugly traitors. And, most importantly, 300 Spartans participated in the battle, but 700 Thespians and 400 Thebans fought alongside them. They weren't alone.

7. The Golden Age.

The melodramatic confrontation depicted in the film never happened. In addition, Sir Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen) did not participate in the battle against the Spanish armada. At the time, (1588), he was out of favor with Elizabeth.

8. Inglourious Basterds.

Unlike most of the other films here, Tarantino simply used history as a backdrop to rewrite it in Inglourious Basterds. He was not trying to tell a true story. Spoiler, Hitler was not killed in a movie theater. And his death did not come at the hands of a French woman out of revenge.

9. Apocalypse.

It seems Gibson intends to write his own version of events. The victim this time is the ancient Mayan culture. As shown in the Apocalypse, it can be concluded that in general, peaceful people were complete bloody savages. They plunder their own villages in order to sacrifice people, which is attributed to the Aztecs and not the Mayans.

10. Shakespeare in love.

Another reimagined version of the story, Shakespeare in Love, does not claim to be true but uses many real names, places, events, and situations. The story follows William and Viola and how their love inspired Shakespeare to write Romeo and Juliet, his most precious work. Much of the film is speculation that cannot be refuted. Some requisites are inappropriate for the time. And Queen Elizabeth would never have gone to performance away from the court, and certainly, no one would have been in public during the bubonic plague.

11. S-571.

The militant attributes the capture of the German Enigma car to America, not England. The move was pure marketing, but it had far-reaching implications. British Prime Minister Tony Blair called it "an insult to the memory" of those involved, and Bill Clinton wrote a letter highlighting the film's fictional character.