Summary

• Some historically accurate movies can be more engaging than fiction, showing that fact can be just as compelling as storytelling.
• Films like "Chapter 27," "Downfall," and "Schindler's List" strive for accuracy, providing detailed depictions of historical events and figures.
• Other films, like Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln," focus on one key aspect. There, it's about President Abraham Lincoln's istration, showcasing the political intrigue and deals made to abolish slavery.

While total accuracy in a narrative movie should never be expected, the most historically accurate movies show that sometimes fact can be more engaging than fiction. While movies like Ridley Scott's Napoleon fuel the debate about how much a movie based on a true story needs to adhere to the facts, there are some movies that have managed to depict the actual events in an honest way while still creating a cinematic representation of the story.

Some of the most beloved films in the medium have been inspired by important, tragic, or revolutionary events across human history, and as long as humanity endures, so will its odyssey. But as much as the film industry loves history, artistic license has been taken over and over again, including with inaccuracies in Napoleon and other similar films. Fortunately, some films strive to maintain as much accuracy and truth as they possibly can, whether that truth is glorious, hideous, uncomfortable, or unbelievable.

1 Chapter 27 (2007)

Jared Leto Stars As The Man Who Killed John Lennon

To say a film that dives into the disturbed mind of a killer is 100% accurate is highly speculative, but Chapter 27 is perhaps the most in-depth exploration of the assassination of John Lennon. Led by Jared Leto in the starring role of Mark David Chapman, the film recreates the week leading up to Lennon's murder and nearly all his doings during his time in New York City in December 1980.

The film is uncomfortable to watch, but then again that's essentially the point. Seeing Chapman interact with other Beatles fans and even just meeting a kid in Central Park is unnerving on every level even before he pulls the trigger. While the movie does not succeed in giving much context or understanding to Chapman or his motivations, it does provide a detailed look at the events leading up to the murder that shocked the world.

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2 Lincoln (2012)

Steven Spielberg Explores The Emancipation Proclamation

Steven Spielberg's biopic of President Abraham Lincoln is not the typical biopic as it does not look at the entire life of the man but rather focuses on one key aspect of his istration -- the ing of the amendment to abolish slavery in the United States. It details the political intrigue and deals made behind the scenes to ensure the important part of history was actually created. It also depicts Lincoln as a storyteller and complex leader whose reasons for ending slavery are not as heroic as others.

The film is not only powerful but emotionally gripping as Daniel Day-Lewis plays Lincoln as a weary and steadfast leader holding the weight of the nation on his shoulders as he struggles to keep the thirteenth amendment and his Emancipation Proclamation from dissolving after the Civil War.

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3 Downfall (2004)

The Last Days Of Adolf Hitler

Although it was the birthplace of a thousand memes, Downfall should be taken as a brilliant character study that faithfully recreated the last days of Adolf Hitler during the Battle of Berlin in the fall of WWII. The film gives an inside look deep into the bowels of Hitler's Wolf's Den as loses the war. The movie explores different aspects of the h=infamous historical figure that are not often covered in movies, from his crippling insecurities to his health issues.

Because Hitler is such a grotesque historical figure, movies often feel the need to depict him and his evil as inhuman and even cartoonish. While the Fuhrer himself is by no means a sympathetic or heroic character in this film, it's still quite remarkable to see the man at the forefront of the picture instead of a stereotypical Nazi commander or an over-the-top caricature.

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4 Schindler’s List (1993)

Spielberg's Harrowing Look At The Horrors Of The Holocaust

On the subject of World War II films, the genre would be nothing without the moving and heart-wrenching saga of Schindler's List. Based on the of Oskar Schindler and the hundreds of Jewish refugees he saved from 's concentration camps, it goes into painstaking detail depicting the cruelty of the Nazi party, the indifference to the plight of the Jewish population felt by onlookers, and the comion had by one man who saved over a thousand.

While there had been many holocaust movies before this, Steven Spielberg's Best Picture winner gave mainstream audiences an unflinching look at one of the darkest moments in human history. While the story of Schindler himself is a fascinating one, it is Spielberg's sequences like the liquidation of the Jewish ghetto that stand out as the most harrowing.

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5 Joyeux Noël (2005)

The Inspiring Christmas Story Set On A Battlefield

Inspired by the famous Christmas Truce of WWI, Joyeux Noël is a war film that is also an unexpected Christmas movie. Excruciating attention to detail was taken to ensure that this emotional tale of war, brotherhood, and peace was given the proper respect it deserves. The movie takes a look at the soldiers on both sides of the fight and the harsh realities of their dangerous lives in the trenches mixed with the welcome reprieve from the fighting.

So much attention to historical accuracy was given that the biggest deviation from actual events concerned the fate of a stray cat that wandered into the trenches, making him captured instead of being shot by French soldiers. A charming anecdote, but one that shows how dedicated the filmmakers were in preserving and presenting this story.

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6 12 Years A Slave (2013)

Solomon Northup's Unjust Journey To Freedom

Few people knew about the story of Solomon Northrup before 12 Years A Slave won Best Picture, but it is an unbelievable and harrowing story set during the dark period of American history. Solomon is a free Black man living in New York with his family when he is kidnapped and illegally sold into slavery.

The portrayal of slavery in the United States is among one of the periods that undergoes the most rewriting once a project tackling the subject reaches Hollywood. Perhaps out of fear people won't flock to theaters to witness the depiction of atrocities that not far in the past, movies about slavery fail to do the period justice. Steven McQueen's movie glosses over nothing as it shows the many faces of racism, inhumanity, and barbaric cruelty Solomon and the other slaves face.

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7 Spotlight (2015)

Journalists Expose The Crimes Of The Catholic Church

Spotlight is another Best Picture winner that excels in telling a true story accurately and making the details of the truth speak for themselves. Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, and Mark Ruffalo star as part of an investigative team with the Boston Globe who help to uncover the long history of abuse by Catholic priests and the church's cover-up of those events. It is easy to see how most movies would simplify the story for a Hollywood version, shrinking the team to fewer heroes or ignoring the investigation's disruption due to 9/11, but Spotlight is committed to the entire story.

Spotlight premiered in 2015, a little over half a decade after the events it portrays took place in real life. Even though that might seem little to consider historical accuracy, it must be acknowledged that the world in 2015 was very different from the world in 2001, mostly due to technological advancements. From giant and clumsy computers to the characters' fashion choices, Spotlight delivered on those small details.

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8 All The President's Men (1976)

An Investigation Into The Watergate Scandal

Like Spotlight, All the President's Men is a movie about investigative journalism that requires as keen an eye for detail as the journalists in the movie have with their work. If a movie is undergoing the task of portraying on screen one of the biggest scandals to ever occur in American politics, the filmmakers want to make sure they do it right, and nailing the specifics is an absolute must.

That was the daunting task facing the Best Picture-winning All The President's Men, and the movie met the challenge going as far as having the executive editor of The Washington Post at the time of the Watergate Scandal consult for the movie. This ensured the offices and the two main characters were the spitting image of the actual journalists on the case.

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9 Zodiac (2007)

A Detailed Examination Of The Unsolved Serial Killer Case

David Fincher has taken on some ambitious and unique projects throughout his career, and the 2007 movie Zodiac might just be one of the best projects the director was involved in. The movie is a look at the decades-long investigation into the Zodiac Killer as police and journalists attempt to uncover who is behind the murders that gripped the people of San Fransisco in the 1970s. Drawning from those investigators, survivors of the attacks, and police details, the movie is an eerie recreation of the mystery.

Extremely influenced by All The President's Men and nailing each and every necessary detail, Zodiac doesn't make up a satisfying conclusion to the movie in order to appease audiences. Instead, it embraces the real-life implications of the story, which further imprints a lot of character into the film and gives it an A+ in historical accuracy.

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10 Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)

A Look At Both Sides Of The Pearl Harbor Attacks

The attack on Pearl Harbor is one of the most impactful events in American and Japanese history. What sets this film apart from other movies that took many liberties with their historical portrayals is the team of people involved. Tora! Tora! Tora! made the groundbreaking decision to involve both sides of the story in the making of the film, making it a t production between the two countries discussed in the movie. Research that gathers material from several sources and not just one side is bound to result in a much more accurate portrayal than a biased view.

While movies like Midway and Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor turn the historical event into an action blockbuster, Tora! Tora! Tora! is a much more nuanced and interesting look at the event while still keeping an epic feel.

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