Nothing spells fun when at the movies than witnessing the amazing world of Star Wars brought to life through state-of-the-art special effects or heroes from comic books making their way on the big screen for an exciting battle of good-versus-evil while having the luxury of shoving popcorn in your mouth. Movies of this type provide a pulse-pounding escape from reality to allow audiences to witness a world existing only within our imaginations.
But what about movies based on historical events? There has been a long debate on how Hollywood has portrayed landmark events such as wars, crimes, tragedies, and court cases among other things. Arguably the most common criticisms movies of these types is making false interpretations of how these events occurred in real-life, and this has lead people to believe Hollywood has demonstrated more interest in exploiting these events rather than honoring the people who were part of them. This is indeed, a valid concern that leaves many questioning how Hollywood should handle real-life stories.
Here's the truth, it is exceptionally rare that films represent true events with complete accuracy. Creative liberties are for taken for dramatic purposes, examples lie in such recent films as Just Mercy, Richard Jewell, and The Irishman. But that's not always a problem and here's why.
Most historical events are not inherently cinematic, and because of this, the result of what came about these events alone do not make for an interesting cinematic experience. The purpose of a film is to create tension with the dilemma at hand, and not every aspect of a certain event or series of events can be make for an effectively interesting scene without tweaking reality in a little about. Let's take the climatic scene from Argo, a 2012 film centered on Tony Mendez, a CIA operative who set out to Iran to rescue six Americans who were being held hostage during the 1979-1981 Iran Hostage Crisis.
In the climax, Mendez -- played by Ben Affleck -- must escort these hostages through an airport and their way to an airplane heading back the U.S. In this scene, he and hostages get held up by security when the Iranians grow suspicious of their intentions. At one point, they have to have their plane tickets approved and confirmed. These moments are very suspenseful as they effectively capture the vulnerability of them being caught and arrested by the Iranians. They eventually make their way on the plane. Upon takeoff however, security agents spot them and try chasing them down, only for Mendez and the hostages to successfully escape.
In real life, they were never held up nor were they chased by Iranian officers, according to officials. However, the way the film portrayed these events made for a truly suspenseful sequence. This is just an example of why films do not portray events with total accuracy. If they were to follow every bit of a historical event without taking a few liberties, they wouldn't be as interesting. While it is important for movies to accurately portray the major aspects of the events for educational purposes, there are certain elements that require creative liberties to be taken in order to make them intriguing. Historical events are not meant to be taken with total accuracy, that is what documentaries are for.
