At a time when Hollywood is facing an acute shortage of ideas, proved by futile attempts to repackage (Exhibit A- Jason Bourne http://www.thehindu.com/features/cinema/cinema-reviews/jason-bourne-review-snoop-god/article8948373.ece ) or reboot previously successful formulas, it has found that five words can bring audience in droves- "Based on a True Story". My memory starts with the movie "Titanic", where the ship was just a metaphor for a brief but deeply meaningful love affair that had its impact over a lifetime and not the focal point of the story. The movie was not an attempt to create a documentary, but superimposed a beautiful and haunting love story on the already well known disastrous maiden journey of the vessel.
Recently however, movies based on true stories have deviated so much from the truth that their real life protagonists have had to issue statements and elaborate their actions. The most recent example of this has been the movie "Sully"(http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-07/crash-investigators-pan-their-portrayal-as-villains-in-sully). The purpose is to create a drama where none exists and keep the audience engaged. It would have been difficult to portray the self doubt of "Sully", if there was no evil side or opposition against which he had to wage a battle. In fact, merely depicting the mental agonies of one character, no matter how heroic he is in real life, would not have retained the audience for long without considerable directorial skills. In the era of instant gratification and entertainment in short action packed bursts, no one can blame a master story teller like Clint Eastwood in taking the easy way out- add more drama to make it more appealing to all audiences.
Even worse have been digressions from the truth in movies like "Argo" where they portrayed the Iranians- both the King and the revolutionaries- as savage, corrupt and dogmatic. The fact that these nations were used as merely pawns on the Cold War Chessboard is never emphasised.
Here, perhaps, we can find clues to why the truth is depicted in a different way. It is more convenient and necessary for western movie makers to take this route- to portray the actions of their regimes as legitimate, heroic and thus deserving to be praised and supported. Then, tarnish the other as evil and decadent that needs to be "democratised" and rescued. This is then linked to aspects like national pride and patriotism, a trend that has long been in existence in English movies (eg-Bridge on The River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia)
The same aspect is creeping into Indian cinema as well. The movie "Airlift" significantly (http://www.hindustantimes.com/bollywood/sorry-akshay-kumar-airlift-is-short-on-facts-external-affairs-ministry/story-fcQzeFk3l7CqJioB8rJRLP.html) deviates from the truth, but that is irrelevant as far as the movie makers are concerned.
Personally, I feel that claims like "based on a true story" should not be encouraged by the media. No one can stop the movie makers from promoting their movie as based on true events, even if their connections with the truth is tenuous. However, media should stop extending support to the hype behind "true story" claims, which currently includes promotions in news and appearances on talk shows. Next, moviegoers should educate themselves about the truth or at least realise that the full truth can never be portrayed on screen and what is portrayed on screen is only partly true. I also hope that moviemakers stop abusing the the five word phrase, if they don't, it might become necessary to force them to issue a disclaimer (or claimer in this case) reading "some of the events/characters/plot in this movie are similar to real life".
The best solution for everyone would be if moviemakers found inspiration from imagination and, when they depict true stories, do justice the truth without distorting it.
Recently however, movies based on true stories have deviated so much from the truth that their real life protagonists have had to issue statements and elaborate their actions. The most recent example of this has been the movie "Sully"(http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-07/crash-investigators-pan-their-portrayal-as-villains-in-sully). The purpose is to create a drama where none exists and keep the audience engaged. It would have been difficult to portray the self doubt of "Sully", if there was no evil side or opposition against which he had to wage a battle. In fact, merely depicting the mental agonies of one character, no matter how heroic he is in real life, would not have retained the audience for long without considerable directorial skills. In the era of instant gratification and entertainment in short action packed bursts, no one can blame a master story teller like Clint Eastwood in taking the easy way out- add more drama to make it more appealing to all audiences.
Even worse have been digressions from the truth in movies like "Argo" where they portrayed the Iranians- both the King and the revolutionaries- as savage, corrupt and dogmatic. The fact that these nations were used as merely pawns on the Cold War Chessboard is never emphasised.
Here, perhaps, we can find clues to why the truth is depicted in a different way. It is more convenient and necessary for western movie makers to take this route- to portray the actions of their regimes as legitimate, heroic and thus deserving to be praised and supported. Then, tarnish the other as evil and decadent that needs to be "democratised" and rescued. This is then linked to aspects like national pride and patriotism, a trend that has long been in existence in English movies (eg-Bridge on The River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia)
The same aspect is creeping into Indian cinema as well. The movie "Airlift" significantly (http://www.hindustantimes.com/bollywood/sorry-akshay-kumar-airlift-is-short-on-facts-external-affairs-ministry/story-fcQzeFk3l7CqJioB8rJRLP.html) deviates from the truth, but that is irrelevant as far as the movie makers are concerned.
Personally, I feel that claims like "based on a true story" should not be encouraged by the media. No one can stop the movie makers from promoting their movie as based on true events, even if their connections with the truth is tenuous. However, media should stop extending support to the hype behind "true story" claims, which currently includes promotions in news and appearances on talk shows. Next, moviegoers should educate themselves about the truth or at least realise that the full truth can never be portrayed on screen and what is portrayed on screen is only partly true. I also hope that moviemakers stop abusing the the five word phrase, if they don't, it might become necessary to force them to issue a disclaimer (or claimer in this case) reading "some of the events/characters/plot in this movie are similar to real life".
The best solution for everyone would be if moviemakers found inspiration from imagination and, when they depict true stories, do justice the truth without distorting it.
