i_am_jim

Is there such a list? If not, why don't we start a thread where people give their opinions on the best movies from an accuracy/authenticity standpoint?

I am posting here because I am most interested in Ancient History.

Patricia

Hard to say. Obviously 300 would be the most historically inaccurate in recent memory, but film has another aspect to it, an intangible, that mitigates authenticity. The dramatic aspect of film can be more representative of historical truth than a dry documentary approach. Bridge Over the River Kwai comes to mind.

Eumenes

I'll toss The Longest Day and A Bridge Too Far out as a being faithful to history as far as I know.

Tora! Tora! Tora!, Midway, and Battle of Britain are all pretty accurate as well.

tjadams

The Alamo (2004) comes as close to correct as I've seen in a movie & still be entertaining.

Son of Cathal

I don't think it is that bad. It does tell the basic story correctly. There were 300 Spartans and they did stand against the Persians at Thermopylae. Of course one must realise before criticising that it was the film adaptation of a graphic novel and was never intended to be historically accurate

sylla1

IMHO quasi-documentaries like Black Hawk Down are the closest Hollywood can get to historical accuracy.

BIG CHRIS 626

I think theres a thin line between a movie and a documentary. A movie can teach you a thing or two, but it has to make sure it can keep the average persons attention span, which is not long. Documentaries on the other hand can be dry, but they get the information across.

Movies also will get a historical event and then twist it up to Hollywoods standards.

Labienus

I liked Black Hawk Down a lot.

Sargon of Akkad

To be fair, I found very few errors in Alexander.

Belisarius

In terms of costume accuracy, I can't fault "Last of the Mohicans", even the bits I thought were wrong turned out accurate when I double checked.