History in films: Fact or fiction?

By Chris Evans and Lianne Jones

History is a favourite genre for many people as it evokes reflection and encourages an audience to think about a significant event from yester year that they wouldn’t necessarily think about otherwise. It comes as a complete package with a ready made plot and ready made characters set for a filmmaker to use as they wish.

However, basing a film on historical content is not always problem free and there are many issues that need to be considered.

The issue of historical accuracy in films is one that can cause much debate as historical events are interpreted in different ways by different people, in turn when they are made into films it becomes an issue of how the historical event should be presented. Portraying the event from a certain view point over another can cause problems as the bias of the filmmaker can be questioned, inevitably causing much controversy.

In addition, a film ultimately has to engage its audience and in order to create an enjoyable cinematic experience it is often necessary to create an adaptation which differs or excludes things that actually happened. For example, the director of Valkyrie, Bryan Singer, revealed in Australian newspaper the Herald Sun that they left out an event where von Stauffenberg (portrayed by Tom Cruise) refused morphine when recovering from his wounds. Singer decided not to put this in as he felt there would be a negative reaction to portraying Cruise like this. This shows how filmmakers have to make concessions to help present the story in a manner which the audience will react positively to.

Another problem with using history in films is the complexity of the real-life characters involved in the original events. Again, this is something that affected Valkyrie as there was a lack of ambiguity about the motives of Stauffenberg et al, the film very much showed the plotters as fighting against the evil of Hitler’s regime, it made no mention of what kind of Germany they wanted to create if the plot was a success. While it can be argued that the film was made in this way in order to make people aware of the heroic efforts of the plotters, it fails to dig deeper into the original characters, as many films do.

There is often a tendency to use films based on historical events as an educational tool, and while this is beneficial as it gives some visual relief and insight to something that may be difficult to understand from a textbook alone, it also poses some problems. Due to the nature of films and the limited length of the end product, it is difficult to present a historical event from every angle that would need to be shown in order for the film to be completely objective. Filmmakers therefore often have to compensate and present just one side of the argument, this then limits the film as an educational piece.

Films such as Schindler’s List and The Boy in Striped Pyjamas are often referred to for educational purposes but, they only highlight a small aspect of the holocaust, and in both cases, the films were based on a novel (although Schindler’s List is also biographical) and consequently they are not entirely factual.

Looking at more modern events we can see that there have been films made about the events of September 11th, these have often been based on survivors testimonies. However the question is raised over whether these films are politically biased as to recount such an important event in American history without an inherent bias would be an extremely difficult task. Basing such films on testimony is also problematic as survivors of such a horrific event will naturally be biased against the perpetrators and the film may then fail to consider an event such as September 11th on a wider scale.

Finally, we are all familiar with historical films carrying the phrase ‘ based on a true event’, and this can also be restrictive to a filmmaker as it ties them more to the facts of the original story and offers little room for leeway. Without this phrase however, they are free to roam a little bit further and to explore a more creative approach regarding the historical event. Whether this phrase is used or not also has quite a dramatic impact on how audiences react to the film and how they choose to interpret it. Perhaps the content and messages would be far more hard hitting if the film is ‘based on a true event’.

Historical films are definitely an essential genre of film but, as we can see, they can be extremely difficult to produce as there are many issues that can cause interference. They are a challenge for filmmakers as they try to get the balance right between historical content and entertainment, all the while remembering that ultimately they have to sell their product and appeal to as wide an audience as possible. This means history is no easy subject.