They say that truth is stranger than fiction, which is often the case because fiction must be at least somewhat plausible. That's why historical events are ripe for filmmaking, with plenty of ready-made tales that no fiction writer would ever dream of. But while movies based on real events are great for getting people interested, they are often changed to make them fit into two hours, and jazzed up to grab the audience's heartstrings. Some movies, such as 300 and Braveheart, changed the historical account so much they may as well be pure fiction. If all you know about history is what you see in the movies, it will pay you to find out how accurate a film really is.
More recent films have done a better job of sticking to the facts. Check out a ranking of 17 movies from the past 12 years that rate between 42% and 100% historical accuracy. Buzzfeed culled the rankings from Data is Beautiful and added video clips and details about what was altered for the movie version. You can see their analysis here.
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