Film the legend

The Darkest Hour starring the heavily Oscar tipped Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill has come in for some criticism. These are about scenes of Churchill riding on the London Underground getting public opinion on possible appeasement with the Nazis. Here 3 other films that did some truth bending.

Braveheart

In Mel Gibson's multi Oscar winning epic the Battle of Stirling is depicted as a pitch battle on an open field. However in real life it was more of a case of a large scale ambush as William (of course in the film played by Gibson) Wallace's forces attacked English troops as they crossed a bridge giving them a vital victory.


Chariots of Fire

Another Oscar winner that took major liberaties with the facts was the film about 2 British Athletes at the 1924 Olympics. In the film Eric (Ian Charleson) Liddell discovers just as he about to aboard the ferry taking him and the rest of the British team to France that the heats of the 100m were taking place on a Sunday however in real life he knew this several months before. In both Fact and Ficiton he pulled out of the 100m due to his religious beliefs though he would win the Gold in the 400m.


The Untouchables

The film depicts the reason for notorious gang boss Al (as played in the film by Robert de Niro) Caopne as tax evasion although it overplays the role of Elliot (Kevin Costner) Ness. In reality Capone's downfall was mainly due to the work of U S Attorney General George E Q Johnson and I R S agent Frank Wilson.