Movies "Based" on real incidents

[HLGStrider]

I'll start this off with a disclaimer. I have not seen the movie "Open Water." Basically it isn't my genre. I had read a review and so I knew the basic idea, two scuba divers get left behind by mistake in the middle of water, surrounded by sharks. Then I heard a co-worker discussing it and how it was strange because (She said) in the end "The guy gets eaten by sharks then the girl comits suicide."

I thought this was a dumb ending, and I mentioned it later to a friend who hadn't seen the movie and she told me that she heard it was based on a real event. That some boat had left two scuba divers behind and when they came back they couldn't find bodies, just some gear, and none of the gear looked as if it had been shark bitten so it was a big mystery.

I hadn't heard this, but I thought, "Gosh, I hope I never go missing and someone makes a movie out of my disappearance, making up things I said and did before I died and even saying I killed myself."

This reminded me of another movie that likewise carried a "Based on a true story" heading, "The Perfect Storm." I saw this one and I didn't particularly like it. It sort of annoyed me that everyone died in the end, partially because I knew it meant that EVERYTHING that had happened on the boat between them leaving shore and everyone dying had to be made up because no one survived to tell what had really happened. I also remember thinking, "I hope my boat never disappears and people make things up about how it disappeared."

I mean, how ethical do you think it is to make a movie about a real event and then fictionalize the entire thing? I'd like to know how based on true events these movies were. It just seems wrong somehow.

What do you think?

[HLGStrider]

http://www.cdnn.info/article/open_water/open_water.htmlI did some internet searching (Very rare for me) and came up with this.

[greypilgrim]

It's not fair, if you make a movie about somebody's real life story, you should try and keep it as close to the truth as possible. Like Band of Brothers did, they got all the real infantry from Easy Company, and interviewed them between episodes.

[Morohtar]

But what happens when you don't know what the truth is. In cases such as "Open Water" and "The Perfect Storm," no one really knows what happened. Enter the money-loving filmmaker who, knowing that "Based on a True Story" is a very effective tool to sell a movie, creates some Hollywoodized story that follows after all firsthand accounts leave off, and creates a hit.

Now, that's not to say that all movies that have "Based on a True Story" tagged somewhere onto them is like this. I thoroughly enjoyed "Band of Brothers," as well as "Blackhawk Down." But these stories have primary sources for all the parts which they turn into film. And, while creating an exciting experience, they don't try to make things up to make it more interesting.

But, then again, isn't it a filmmaker's right to take the precious memories of people who have dissappeared mysteriously and make money off them?:confused:

[HLGStrider]

Well, I believe in a world with two sorts of rights: Legal rights and Moral rights. There are plenty of things you can legally do, like cheat on your wife or tells lies about someone, that you shouldn't morally do.

Legally I support film makers doing anything on screen. Morally I don't like about 75% of what goes on on film.

[greypilgrim]

In Goodfellas, at the very end of the DVD, they go to a shot of the real Henry Hill, and it's like he's been there the whole time through this movie about his life.

[e.Blackstar]

Like with Hidalgo, I read this review about how an account of the real life of Frank T. Hopkins would have been much shorter and a lot more depressing...I figure if you';re gonna make a movie out of someone's life, either change it enough and don't say "based on..." or else be true.

[Wolfshead]

We'll never know what happened in the events depicted in Perfect Storm and Open Water, although we can make a fairly good guess. Well, maybe not so much in Open Water, but I haven't seen that, nor do I know anything about it, so I'll just deal with Perfect Storm.

I think the film-makers were perfectly justified with what they did in Perfect Storm. None of the characters are depicted in a bad light (whereas someone in Open Water you say killed herself), and no one died shamefully tarnishing their reputation, so no one came out of it looking bad. I think, hypothetically speaking, I would be in favour of such a film if I'd been in that situation - it ensures that their story lives on and they are less likely to be forgotten. And I personally thought it was a damned good film as well.

[HLGStrider]

As far as Perfect Storm does, I mainly used it as an example because I watched the movie with "this is a true" story going through my head, and then at the end everyone died, and I said, "Wait a gosh darn second here. . ." It just seemed unfair to make things more interesting with the "True story" bait and then plop in an "Oh, yeah, no one was alive to tell so we made it up."

BUT! Big but here. Huge BUT in fact . . .

But. . .I don't know how much of it was made up all together. In Open Water at least they changed character names and occupations, and made up a new film out of the idea. That somewhat lessons the blow. An example of a "based on true" that did something similar very well is "The Great Escape." Right away in that film they inform you that they have changed every character so that the people are based on characters but are not the characters themselves. Also in this one they tried to portray events by talking with those who had been there.

I think if you want to market it, you should be as honest as possible about how based in reality it is. If not, you are going to have me throwing popcorn at you! And I'm a great shot!

[Wolfshead]

The Great Escape. Now, that's a great film based on a true story. First time I watched it I had no idea they were going to get shot at the end. Brilliantly done. It didn't depart much from the truth, either.

[Greenwood]

I think if you want to market it, you should be as honest as possible about how based in reality it is. If not, you are going to have me throwing popcorn at you! And I'm a great shot!Be careful of your aim; you should be firing your popcorn at Sebastian Junger who wrote the book the movie The Perfect Storm is based on. I never watched the film, in part because I had read the book and reacted (as you did): "This guy can have no idea what really happened on that boat." I will grant Junger this: he admitted at the beginning of the book that he could have no idea what the true events were on the boat but based his guesses on the accounts of survivors of other shipwrecks.

In general when you see the words "Based on a true story" on a book or film you should be aware that there is almost certainly a lot of leeway in that word "based". Thus a film such as Titanic could claim to be "based on a true story" (afterall, there was a ship named Titanic that struck an iceberg and sank), but it should not be confused with Walter Lord's book A Night to Remember (later made into a great film) in which every line of dialogue (at least in the book) was taken from survivor accounts or interviews.

[HLGStrider]

I never saw Titantic (I may be the only one, but I don't like disaster movies as a general rule), but I always give disaster movies a lot of lee-way when they claim to be based on real events. I sort of skeptically expect all the characters to be made up.

[Greenwood]

I never saw Titantic (I may be the only one, ...You are not the only one. I have avoided it like the plague since it came out.

[Barliman Butterbur]

You are not the only one. I have avoided it like the plague since it came out.

I enjoy the special effects of Titanic no end! I dismiss the love story totally, but I sure get down with those special effects, and all the care taken to make things look real! :) And did you notice that the part of Captain Smith was taken by Bernard Hill? :D

I am fascinated with Titanic. My wife and I went to see an incredible exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry some years back. They had all sorts of relics recovered from the ship, and they had an artificial iceberg (covered with deep frost). They invited people to put their hands on the frost to see how long they could keep their hands on it, reminding one and all that this was the temperature of the Atlantic Ocean on that night.

They also had a complete to-scale reproduction — complete in all respects — of several of the staterooms (furnished with actual relics and facsimiles) and the Grand Staircase. But the Star of the Show was that gigantic piece of Titanic's hull that was actually brought up from the bottom of the ocean — and when nobody was looking, I touched it! I touched the Titanic! :D The feeling that gave me was absolutely indescribable. I felt I'd gone back in time and had some sort of direct connection with the ship and the people who'd been on it.

Barley

[Greenwood]

Barley,

I too am fascinated by the Titanic. I have Walter Lord's books and Bob Ballard's and have read lots of stuff. I was looking forward to the movie until I saw previews and realized it was just going to be some silly, melodramatic, love story using the Titanic as background. Since I am the wrong age (and gender) to swoon over a young Leonardo DiCaprio I decided not to go see it and have managed to avoid it ever since. I didn't know about Bernard (Theoden) Hill as Captain Smith. That intrigues me enough that maybe I will check it out the next time it is on TV.

BTW Did you ever see Hill in The Ghost and the Darkness, the movie about the man-eating lions of Tsavo?

[HLGStrider]

I haven't touched the Titantic. BUT I HAVE TOUCHED A MONET!

Mu ha ha ha

They had a Monet at the Portland Art Museum, and I touched it. I touched Monet's paint. . .then my mom caught me. . .grumble. . .

[no1liz]

Has Anyone seen "Touching the Void". I do believe it's based on a true incident. Liz in Aberdeen.

[HLGStrider]

My brother got the book of that for Christmas, but I didn't know there was a movie out already. It is based on a true story if it is based on the book, which I believe the people involved helped to write.