Most Historically Accurate Movies

Havana Moon said:
They didn't wear kilts in the time of William Wallace, nor did they talk with Australian accents!!
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Well, they didn't talk with Australian accents in the time of John, either. That doesn't stop The Adventures of Robin Hood from being one of my all-time favorites. Fucking Normans!
 
Howard the Duck said:
Would you say that Socrates was objective? I mean, clearly, his student wasn't objective, but, Plato always portrayed his teacher as highly objective.
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Reasoned, logical, thoughtful but not exactly known for objectivity. My criticism with Rand and Objectivist is they tend to cherry pick what they believe to be objective based on consistency. Much of the facts of nature are counterintuitive and/or contradictory. Scientists rely on empirical observations that are predictable and reproducible as a basis for objectivity. Not just logic or reason as those are often wrong.

The other flaw of objectivism is that the reality is much of nature and existence is subjective.

Now that’s not to say objectivism is completely discredited or wrong in all things. Much of it carries a lot of weight and is factual. It’s just that objectivism should be viewed critically as any philosophy should be.

All of which has nothing to do with her novels being god awful novels with poor plot development, one dimensional characters, terse and repetitive dialogue presented in a stream of consciousness and a number of other literary sins. She posits an interesting philosophy in a horribly written novel.
 
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Mott the Hoople said:
The final scene with Swank completely blew the movie apart and turned it on it’s head. That was completely unexpected but probably should have seen it coming.
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I agree, the final rejection was just too much for her. I have now recommended this to several people and wondered how I missed it. I am a fan of both Swank and Jones.
 
Cypress said:
I can always count on learning something from my liberal friends here.

I recently saw a movie about the Tokyo War trials, which I was barely aware of. Everyone has heard of the trials at Nuremburg. I have seen some good Chinese and Korean movies about world war two from the perspective of nationalist China and occupied Korea. Let's face it, the war in east Asia takes a second fiddle to the preoccupation with the European theater in the western mind. It is barely possible to learn about the war on mainland China, let alone the campaign and atrocities in south east asia - unless one commits to learning about them. American film and historical scholarship gives the short end of the stick to the Asian theater. My father told me his experiences as a young boy living in Japanese-occupied Manchuria. Some pretty harrowing stuff. That kind of knowledge about the war in east Asia would have never come to me from the garden variety American educational and cultural milieu, which is mostly focused on the triumphs of D-Day and the European theater., with a little Midway sprinkled in
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One of my fathers closest friend was a former Marine who fought in the Pacific theater against the Japanese and was wounded on Iwo Jima. He was very knowledgeable about the breadth and scope of Japanese atrocities during WWII. As conquerors they were horrific overlords as they viewed those who surrendered as subhumans completely devoid of honor and treated the vanquished peoples pretty much like the Germans. Unfortunately for the Chinese the Nationalist Government was about as bad as the Japanese were.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
and I recommend the English film The Lion in Winter.

I don’t know if I could handle Joyeux Noel. If it’s accurate then it must be completely heart rending.
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I have seen that film several times, indeed I watched it in a cinema when it came out originally. Yes it is a great film albeit Katherine Hepburn does get on your tits from time to time. The dialogue is incredible with many quotable lines.

Eleanor: How dear of you to let me out of jail!
Henry: It's only for the holidays.

Eleanor: Henry.
Henry: Hmm?
Eleanor: I have a confession.
Henry II: Yes?
Eleanor: I don't much like our children.

Eleanor: Henry's bed is Henry's province. He can people it with sheep for all I care, which on occasion he has done.
Henry II: [resentfully] Rosamund's been dead for seven years...
Eleanor: ...two months and eighteen days. I never liked her much.
Henry II: You counted the days.
Eleanor: I made the numbers up.

Eleanor: What would you have me do? Give out? Give up? Give in?
Henry II: Give me a little peace.
Eleanor: A little? Why so modest? How about eternal peace? Now there's a thought.

Eleanor: Henry.
Henry II: Madam.
Eleanor: Did you ever love me?
Henry II: No.
Eleanor: Good. That will make this pleasanter.
 
Havana Moon said:
I have seen that film several times, indeed I watched it in a cinema when it came out originally. Yes it is a great film albeit Katherine Hepburn does get on your tits from time to time. The dialogue is incredible with many quotable lines.

Eleanor: How dear of you to let me out of jail!
Henry: It's only for the holidays.

Eleanor: Henry.
Henry: Hmm?
Eleanor: I have a confession.
Henry II: Yes?
Eleanor: I don't much like our children.

Eleanor: Henry's bed is Henry's province. He can people it with sheep for all I care, which on occasion he has done.
Henry II: [resentfully] Rosamund's been dead for seven years...
Eleanor: ...two months and eighteen days. I never liked her much.
Henry II: You counted the days.
Eleanor: I made the numbers up.

Eleanor: What would you have me do? Give out? Give up? Give in?
Henry II: Give me a little peace.
Eleanor: A little? Why so modest? How about eternal peace? Now there's a thought.

Eleanor: Henry.
Henry II: Madam.
Eleanor: Did you ever love me?
Henry II: No.
Eleanor: Good. That will make this pleasanter.
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Personally I thought her patrician sarcasm helped make the movie though one has to wonder had she actually spoke to him in that manner she would have lost her head as a young woman.

So don’t be to hard on her. She’s from Boston. It’s her job to be annoying.
 
Havana Moon said:
I have seen that film several times, indeed I watched it in a cinema when it came out originally. Yes it is a great film albeit Katherine Hepburn does get on your tits from time to time. The dialogue is incredible with many quotable lines.

Eleanor: How dear of you to let me out of jail!
Henry: It's only for the holidays.

Eleanor: Henry.
Henry: Hmm?
Eleanor: I have a confession.
Henry II: Yes?
Eleanor: I don't much like our children.

Eleanor: Henry's bed is Henry's province. He can people it with sheep for all I care, which on occasion he has done.
Henry II: [resentfully] Rosamund's been dead for seven years...
Eleanor: ...two months and eighteen days. I never liked her much.
Henry II: You counted the days.
Eleanor: I made the numbers up.

Eleanor: What would you have me do? Give out? Give up? Give in?
Henry II: Give me a little peace.
Eleanor: A little? Why so modest? How about eternal peace? Now there's a thought.

Eleanor: Henry.
Henry II: Madam.
Eleanor: Did you ever love me?
Henry II: No.
Eleanor: Good. That will make this pleasanter.
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Another great line. Henry: I could have conquered Europe. All of it but I had women in my life.

King or peasant. Some things are universal.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
One of my fathers closest friend was a former Marine who fought in the Pacific theater against the Japanese and was wounded on Iwo Jima. He was very knowledgeable about the breadth and scope of Japanese atrocities during WWII. As conquerors they were horrific overlords as they viewed those who surrendered as subhumans completely devoid of honor and treated the vanquished peoples pretty much like the Germans. Unfortunately for the Chinese the Nationalist Government was about as bad as the Japanese were.
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The Japanese showed up at my Grandfather's house and told him he had ten days to move out, because the Japanese Army wanted his house. I guess by the standards of Japanese occupation that was pretty tame though.

War brings out the worst in people, sometimes it brings out the best too.

I saw an excellent Italian biopic about someone I never heard of. Giorgio Perlasca, who basically saved more Jews than Albert Schindler did in WW2

Perlasca – Un eroe Italiano is a 2002 Italian drama, directed by Alberto Negrin, about Giorgio Perlasca, an Italian businessman working in Hungary for his government. After Italy surrendered to the Allies, he took refuge in the Spanish Embassy. Aware of the threat to Jews, he first began to help them find shelter in Spanish safe houses.

After the Spanish ambassador moved to Switzerland, Perlasca posed as the Spanish consul, tricking Nazi officials and saving the lives of more than 5,000 Jews in Hungary in 1944 during the Holocaust.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perlasca_–_Un_eroe_Italiano
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Just watching Downfall, haven't seen it for a while, truly wonderful film. Bruno Ganz's Hitler is a tour de force, sadly he died very recently.
 
Cypress said:
I really appreciated the German movie "Downfall" which is a dramatic depiction of Hitler, his inner circle, and their last days underground in the Führerbunker before the Soviet Red Army crushed that last vestiges of life from the Nazi regime.

I like that movie so much, I have seen in three times. The actor who plays Hitler is simply incredible. It is a complex and nuanced movie on many levels, but one of the most compelling aspects to me is the portrayal of Hitler actually having some decent human qualities, juxtaposed against the genuine monster inside him. That is a real and compelling depiction of evil, chap. Cartoon-type evil does not exist in the real world. And that takes some great acting to pull off.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downfall_(2004_film)
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My other contribution to the World War 2 genre is The Zookeepers Wife.

I do not think I will ever get tired of Nazis being outwitted by Poles, Jews, and Russians. That crap is right up my alley!

This movie was bloody good.

The Zookeeper's Wife is a 2017 war drama film directed by Niki Caro, written by Angela Workman and based on Diane Ackerman's non-fiction book of the same name. The film tells the true story of how Jan and Antonina Żabiński rescued hundreds of Jews from the Germans by hiding them in their Warsaw zoo during World War II.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Zookeeper's_Wife_(film)
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Trotsky

I am only on episode two, but this thing is pretty bloody good. I believe it would appeal to any thoughtful student of world history. Revolution, civil war, murder, sex, megalomaniac maniacs...what's not to like?

Trotsky is a Russian biographical eight-episode television mini-series about Leon Trotsky directed by Alexander Kott and Konstantin Statsky. The series stars Konstantin Khabensky in the title role. It debuted on Channel One in Russia on 6 November 2017, for the centenary of the Russian Revolution. The series is a rare high-budget artistic representation of Trotsky in post-Soviet Russia, as his name was a taboo during most of the Soviet period.

Four reasons to watch 'Trotsky' on Netflix
Lenin’s comrade-in-arms, one of the leaders of the 1917 revolution, creator of the Red Army, murdered with an ice pick in Mexico on Uncle Joe’s orders—no one would accuse Leon Trotsky of having a boring life. Watch this new series on Netflix, and decide for yourself who he was: bespectacled intellectual, military genius, talented stump orator, power-hungry devil? Perhaps all of the above.
https://www.rbth.com/arts/329730-trotsky-series-netflix
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trotsky_(TV_series)#Reception
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