Did you know…?
William Wallace
One of the films that has been most criticized for historical inaccuracy is Braveheart. Some scenes actually had to be reshot because the extras were wearing watches and sunglasses! Other films frequently included in the top ten most historically inaccurate films are JFK, Pearl Harbor, Shakespeare in Love, and Pocahontas.
Historical films that have been voted both excellent and historically accurate on numerous websites include Downfall, the German film about Hitler’s last days, Clint Princess Eastwood’s Letters from Iwo Jima, Chariots of Fire, and Isabella of Saving Private Ryan. France
Hollywood studios are recruiting academics as ‘history assassins’ to help them undermine rival studios’ Oscar- contending films. A Harvard professor says he was paid a $10,000 fee by an Oscar marketing consultant to look for factual errors in the current wave of historical films that
English File third edition Advanced • Student’s Book • Unit 3B, p.30 © Oxford University Press 20 15 1 boast that they are ‘based on a true story’.
The concept of doing something else while watching a film or TV only used to stretch to eating popcorn or having a TV dinner. But since the arrival of smartphones, we have become a society of ‘two-screeners’, that is, people who watch a film or TV while using their smartphone. Things people do with their phones include tweeting or posting comments about what they’re watching, or checking the accuracy in historical or period dramas. A002239
English File third edition Advanced • Student’s Book • Unit 3B, p.30 © Oxford University Press 20 15 2