Explore films
2000-2009
Movies inspired by and based on true stories.
View trailers, reviews, films, and facts behind the stories.
Most films are highly rated on Rotten Tomatoes and the Internet Movie Database (IMDb). They have at least a 70% or 7/10 rating from critics and audiences alike, many with 80% or 8/10 or above. Enjoy the best true story films of the 2000s!
Best True Story Films of 2009
G | Animals, Biography, Drama, Family | A music professor bonds with an abandoned Akita puppy he takes into his home, and the loyal dog waits for his human companion at the train station every evening.
Trailers and Reviews:
Facts:
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10 things you didn't know about Hachiko, Japan's most loyal dog article on TimeOut
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Rare Photos Of Hachiko Patiently Waiting For His Owner Have Surfaced And It’s Heartbreaking To See article on Bored Panda
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The Amazing And True Story Of Hachiko The Dog article by Maria Wulff Hauglann on Nerd Nomads
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"No Animals Were Harmed" article on humanehollywood.org
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The True Story article by Vicki Wong, creator-producer of the American movie
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Hachikô monogatari (1987) Japanese film on IMDb
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Hachikō article on Wikipedia
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Hachiko: The True Story of the Royal Dogs of Japan and One Faithful Akita nonfiction children's book by Julie Chrystyn on Amazon
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Hachi-Kō: At The Centennial Of His Birth nonfiction book by Mayumi Itoh on Amazon, the 2023 revision of the author's two previous books on Hachi
PG-13 | Biography, Drama, Sport | The story of Michael Oher, a homeless and traumatized boy who became an All-American football player and first-round NFL draft pick with the help of a caring woman and her family.
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The True Story of Michael Oher and 'The Blind Side' by Jordan Zakarin on Biography.com
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The Real Story Behind The Blind Side – Where Is Michael Oher Now? by Bianca Mercuri on Goalcast. Excerpts from the article:
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Oher’s 2014 memoir, I Beat the Odds, further addresses his views on The Blind Side.
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“I felt like it portrayed me as dumb,” Oher wrote, “instead of as a kid who had never had consistent academic instruction and ended up thriving once he got it.”
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One good deed can change the course of someone’s life. The way that Oher and the Tuohys’ lives merged fulfilled them both. “When I moved in with Leigh Anne and Sean, I felt loved, like part of a family,” wrote Oher, who went on to found the Oher Foundation, dedicated to providing underprivileged children with a pathway to success.
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PG | Biography, Drama, Music, Romance | In Maoist China, a boy is taken from his family and trained to become a dancer, but everything he knows is challenged when he is chosen to attend a ballet summer school in Houston, Texas.
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A Chinese Dancer's Odyssey Into the Movies by Pia Catton on The Wall Street Journal
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Mao's Last Dancer book by Li Cunxin on Amazon
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Mao's Last Dancer, Young Readers' Edition book by Li Cunxin on Amazon
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Dancing to Freedom: The True Story of Mao's Last Dancer children's picture book (grade levels K-2) on Amazon
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Li Cunxin: Mao's Last Dancer - Li Cunxin's website
PG | Drama, Sport | A year after the destruction from Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans high school basketball coach Al Collins gathers displaced students and rebuilds the school team, the Patriots, with athletes from five different schools, aiming to participate in the basketball championship.
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Coming soon!
Best True Story Films of 2008
R | Biography, Crime, Drama, History, Mystery, Thriller | In 1928 Los Angeles, single mother Christine Collins arrives home to find her son, Walter, missing. The LAPD tries to pass off an impostor as her son to quiet public protests, and Christine's only ally becomes a clergyman who exposes corruption in the police department.
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In 1928, police returned missing Walter Collins to his mother. She knew it wasn't him. - article on Mamamia
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‘CHANGELING’ (2008) – a genuinely ‘true’ story. by Alan Royle on filmstarfacts.com. The author is a retired history professor who taught a course called "Hollywood and History."
R | Drama, Law & Crime, Mystery, Thriller, Journalism | Inspired by the true story of reporter Judith Miller, who writes a story outing covert CIA operative Valerie Plame. The characters' names are changed in this fictionalized version of the story, which dramatizes the reporter's refusal to reveal her source and its legal repercussions.
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According to the caption in the opening credits, this is a work of fiction inspired by a true story. Contrast this film with Fair Game (2010), a film based on the true story and told from the perspectives of the former CIA agent and her husband.
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Judith Miller in The First Amendment Encyclopedia on Middle Tennessee State University
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This Day in History: September Reporter Judith Miller released from prison on History.com
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Judith Miller biography on Wikipedia. Excerpt:
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"On October 1, 2004, federal Judge Thomas F. Hogan found Miller in contempt of court for refusing to appear before a federal grand jury, which was investigating who had leaked to reporters the fact that Valerie Plame was a CIA operative."
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Government's Memorandum in Opposition to Judith Miller's Motion for Reconsideration or a Supplemental Order Designating a Particular Place of Confinement Case No.: 04-MS-407 (D.D.C.) (Chief Judge Thomas F. Hogan) - on The United States Department of Justice website
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Miller v. United States - Opposition Docket Nos. 04-1507 and 04-1508, brief for the United States in opposition to a writ of certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit - on The United States Department of Justice website
Unrated | Adventure, Biography, Drama, History, Romance, Sport, Disaster and Survival | In 1936, a secretary at a Berlin newspaper is assigned to write about a German and Austrian competition to climb the most dangerous rock face in the Swiss Alps, where she personally knows two of the climbers.
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Coming soon!
PG-13 | Drama, Education | Teacher and novelist François Bégaudeau plays a version of himself as a French teacher in this semi-autobiographical film, where he teaches racially mixed students from a tough Parisian neighborhood for one school year.
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The Class semi-autobiographical novel by François Bégaudeau on Amazon
Front of the Class (2008 TV Movie)
PG | Biography, Disability, Drama, Education | Brad Cohen has Tourette's Syndrome but defies the odds and becomes a gifted teacher.
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Front of the Class: How Tourette Syndrome Made Me the Teacher I Never Had autobiography by Brad Cohen and Lisa Wysocky on Amazon
Best True Story Films of 2007
R | Biography, Drama, History | Mariane Pearl travels to Pakistan in a desperate search to find her husband, journalist Daniel Pearl of The Wall Street Journal, after terrorists capture him.
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Facts:
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This Day in History: February 01 Journalist Daniel Pearl is murdered on History.com
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Reporter Daniel Pearl Is Dead, Killed by His Captors in Pakistan by a Wall Street Journal staff reporter, February 24, 2002
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The New York Times articles on Daniel Pearl
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A Mighty Heart: The Brave Life and Death of My Husband, Danny Pearl book on Amazon
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"There’s the Danny—I’ve read his articles—who even if he is proud of America, thinks that America and, in general the West, has an obligation to the world, owes the world something. There is the diehard humanist who, in spite of everything he sees and has seen in his life, continues to want to believe that man is not a predator to other men, but a brother, a kindred spirit. There is the journalist who through his reporting goes unflaggingly towards the forgotten of the world, pays his debt, our debt, the debt of the hordes of smug and overfed Westerners who couldn’t care less about world poverty and don’t consider themselves “their brothers’ keepers.” - Lévy, B.-H. (2014). Who Killed Daniel Pearl?
PG-13 | Biography, Drama, Education, Romance | In 1935, Melvin B. Tolson is a professor at Wiley College, Texas, where he inspired students to form the school's first debate team.
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The Great Debaters: Why wasn’t history good enough? by Paulette Brown-Hinds, the daughter of Hamilton Boswell, one of the debaters. Excerpts:
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". . . the Wiley debating team DID NOT debate at Harvard, it debated at the University of Southern California. The team traveled west, not north, to debate a university not used to debating with black schools and not used to losing."
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"Three of the four debaters were fictional. The film’s writers took half of the names of authentic debaters and changed their last names. . . . There was no woman on the team in 1935."
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No Animals Were Harmed on humanehollywood.org
R | Adventure, Biography, Drama, Survival | Top student and athlete Christopher McCandless graduates from Emory University and soon after abandons his possessions, gives his entire savings to charity, and hitchhikes to Alaska to live in the wilderness.
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The Sad Story Of Christopher McCandless, The Man From ‘Into The Wild’ on historycollection.com
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Into the Wild book by Jon Krakauer on Amazon
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The fiction that is Jon Krakauer's 'Into The Wild' by Craig Medred on Alaska Dispatch News
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The beatification of Chris McCandless: From thieving poacher into saint by Craig Medred on Alaska News
PG-13 | Biography, Crime, Drama, Education | A dedicated young teacher in a racially divided Los Angeles school strives to teach her class of at-risk students tolerance, an interest in learning, and journaling.
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The Freedom Writers Diary (Movie Tie-in Edition) book by Erin Gruwell on Amazon
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The Freedom Writers Diary (20th Anniversary Edition) book by The Freedom Writers and Erin Gruwell on Amazon
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Dear Freedom Writer: Stories of Hardship and Hope from the Next Generation book by The Freedom Writers and Erin Gruwell on Amazon
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The Freedom Writers Diary Teacher's Guide book by Erin Gruwell on Amazon
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Teach with Your Heart: Lessons I Learned from The Freedom Writers book by Erin Gruwell on Amazon
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Teaching Hope: Stories from the Freedom Writer Teachers and Erin Gruwell book by The Freedom Writers and Erin Gruwell on Amazon
PG | Biography, Drama, Romance | In 1795, twenty-year-old Jane Austen is an aspiring writer with financially disadvantaged parents who expect her to marry into a wealthy family, but she instead becomes emotionally involved with Tom Lefroy, a charming but penniless law student.
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See Jane Elope by Deidre Lynch on Slate
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Becoming Jane: Sorting Fact from Fiction by Marsha Huff on the Jane Austen Society of North America website
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The One-Sided Romance of Jane Austen and Tom Lefroy by Joan Klingel Ray on the Jane Austen Society of North America website
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Jane Austen and Tom Lefroy: Stories Linda Robinson Walker on the Jane Austen Society of North America website
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Becoming Jane on Based on a True Story Podcast
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This Day In History: December 16 - Jane Austen is born - biography on history.com
R | True Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller | In the 1960s and 1970s, San Francisco cartoonist Robert Graysmith, a crime reporter, and the cops become obsessed with tracking down the Zodiac, a serial killer who terrorizes Northern California.
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Top 10 Things Zodiac Got Factually Right and Wrong on WatchMojo
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Robert Graysmith's nonfiction books Zodiac (1986) and Zodiac Unmasked (2002)
Best True Story Films of 2006
The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
PG-13 | Biography, Drama | Chris Gardner is a single father and struggling salesman who endures hardships, getting evicted from his apartment and living in shelters with his son, but Chris does not give up on his professional journey and dream to create a better life for himself and his son.
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17 Inspiring Facts About The Pursuit Of Happyness on Movie Trifles. Excerpts:
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On the incorrect spelling of "Happiness": "The reason is because of a mural that contained this word just outside the daycare facility that Gardner’s son attended."
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"Struggling with his meager earnings as a medical salesman, Christopher Gardener had a meeting that changed his life forever. When he saw a neatly dressed man drove up in a red Ferrari, he got curious and asked the man what he was doing for a living."
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'The Pursuit of Happyness' Tells Real-Life Rags to Riches Story of Successful Businessman Chris Gardner on voanews.com. Excerpt:
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"The Pursuit of Happyness takes its misspelled title from the line in the U.S. Declaration of Independence. As Chris Gardner explains, what Thomas Jefferson wrote says happiness is not guaranteed; it is something you have to pursue."
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PG | Biography, Drama, Romance | The story of Beatrix Potter, the author of the beloved and best-selling children's book, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, and her struggle for love, happiness, and success in Victorian England.
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Miss Potter fact and fiction by Lolly Robinson on The Horn Book Inc. website
PG-13 | Drama, Romance, Sport | Dan Millman is a talented Berkeley college athlete who has it all, but when a traffic accident shatters his legs and his future, he turns to life coaching from a mysterious stranger.
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Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book That Changes Lives by Dan Millman on Amazon
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"Way of the Peaceful Warrior blends fact and fiction, memoir and invention, autobiography and imagination. I’ve never claimed otherwise." - Dan Millman, quoted on his website peacefulwarrior.com
R | Action, Drama, History, Thriller | A real-time account of the events on United Flight 93, one of the four planes hijacked by terrorists on September 11th, 2001.
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United 93 - plot, historical accuracy, reception, etc. on Wikipedia
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Flight 93 National Memorial on the National Park Service (NPS) website. Passengers onboard were described on a page on the NPS website that was visible in 2023 but no longer exists. Excerpts:
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Thomas E. Burnett, Jr.: "Burnett’s phone calls to his wife from onboard hijacked Flight 93 provided vital information to the passengers and crew and revealed the plans they were making to take back the plane. Burnett’s wife recalls him saying, “We have to do something. We can’t wait for the authorities . . . It’s up to us. I think we can do it.”
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Todd Beamer: "In the midst of the hijacking of Flight 93, Beamer tried to reach his wife by Airfone. When the call failed, he dialed an operator . . . . At the end of his call, she says she heard Beamer say to others on the plane, “Are you guys ready? Okay. Let’s roll.”
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Mark Bingham: "On the morning of September 11, Bingham overslept and nearly missed his flight; he was the last passenger to board. During the hijacking, he phoned his mother reporting that his plane had been hijacked by men who said they had a bomb."
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Jeremy Glick: "When confronted with the hijack situation on Flight 93, Glick phoned his wife. She recalls him calmly describing the terrorists and their threats. Glick, a former national collegiate judo champion and black belt, told his wife that the passengers and crew were making plans to rush the terrorists."
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Tom Burnett biography on Wikipedia
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Longest Mob Trial Ends in Acquittals : 20 Alleged N.J. Crime Figures Freed; 21-Month Case a Big Setback for U.S. by Paul Richter in Los Angeles Times
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Lucchese crime family on britannica.com
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Lucchese crime family New Jersey faction on Wikipedia
PG-13 | Biography, Drama, Education | Andy is a recent college graduate with big dreams to become a journalist. She travels to New York and starts working as an assistant to a prestigious runway fashion magazine editor, the cynical Miranda Priestly.
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The Untold and Very True Story of The Devil Wears Prada by Amy Odell on Literary Hubb
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The Devil Wears Prada: The True Story Behind Meryl Streep’s Iconic Villain by Nicole Waxman on cbr.com
TV-PG | Biography, Drama, Education | Ron Clark is a small-town elementary school teacher in North Carolina who relocates to one of the country's toughest classrooms in New York City, following his calling to make a difference for disenfranchised youth.
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Our History on The Ron Clark Academy website
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Innovative educator Ron Clark inspires passion for learning news video from CBS Mornings on YouTube
PG-13 | Adventure, Biography, Drama, History, War, Survival | During the Vietnam War, U.S. fighter pilot Dieter Dengler is shot down over Laos and held captive in a POW camp, where he and fellow prisoners endure torture, hunger, and illness while awaiting a chance to escape.
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Werner Herzog offers two takes on the same incredible true story by A.A. Dowd at AV Club
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Little Dieter Needs to Fly - the 1997 documentary by the same director
PG | Drama, Sport | When a plane crash claims the lives of members of the Marshall University football team and some of its fans, the team's new coach and his surviving players try to keep the football program alive.
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We are Marshall: What Was True and What Was Not? on The Grueling Truth
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The Real Story Behind We Are Marshall by Tracy V. Wilson on howstuffworks
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Historical Newspapers Clippings, Videos and Documents on Marshall University website
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PLANE CRASH MEMORIAL on Marshall University website
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"We Are Marshall" And "The Marshall Story" - Hollywood vs Reality by Jon Johnston
PG-13 | Biography, Crime, Drama, Sport | A counselor at a juvenile detention facility turns the teenage inmates into a football team to give them self-respect.
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PG-13 | Action, Drama, History, Thriller, War | Long-buried letters are discovered, telling the stories and perspectives of Japanese soldiers during the Battle of Iwo Jima (February 19-March 16, 1945), a World War II conflict between the United States and Japan.
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The battle for Iwo Jima: why did it happen and why was it so hard fought? on History Extra
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Battle of Iwo Jima on Naval History and Heritage Command
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Letters From Iwo Jima book by Kumiko Kakehashi
PG | Adventure, Animals, Drama, Kids & Family | Three members of a scientific expedition are forced to leave their sled dogs behind after an accident and worsening weather conditions, followed by the dogs struggling to survive on their own in the Antarctic winter.
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Inspired by a Japanese movie about the same story: Nanyoku Monogatari, also called Antarctica (1983/1984).
PG-13 | Action, History, Thriller | On September 11th, 2001, four U.S. domestic flights are hijacked by al-Qaida terrorists. After the three other planes strike the terrorists' targets, some passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 93 heroically attempt to take back control of the airplane.
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Flight 93 National Memorial on the National Park Service (NPS) website. Passengers onboard were described on a page on the NPS website that was visible in 2023 but no longer exists. Excerpts:
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Thomas E. Burnett, Jr.: "Burnett’s phone calls to his wife from onboard hijacked Flight 93 provided vital information to the passengers and crew and revealed the plans they were making to take back the plane. Burnett’s wife recalls him saying, “We have to do something. We can’t wait for the authorities . . . It’s up to us. I think we can do it.”
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Todd Beamer: "In the midst of the hijacking of Flight 93, Beamer tried to reach his wife by Airfone. When the call failed, he dialed an operator . . . . At the end of his call, she says she heard Beamer say to others on the plane, “Are you guys ready? Okay. Let’s roll.”
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Mark Bingham: "On the morning of September 11, Bingham overslept and nearly missed his flight; he was the last passenger to board. During the hijacking, he phoned his mother reporting that his plane had been hijacked by men who said they had a bomb."
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Jeremy Glick: "When confronted with the hijack situation on Flight 93, Glick phoned his wife. She recalls him calmly describing the terrorists and their threats. Glick, a former national collegiate judo champion and black belt, told his wife that the passengers and crew were making plans to rush the terrorists."
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Tom Burnett biography on Wikipedia
PG | Biography, Drama, Sport | In 1966, the Texas Miners new coach, Don Haskins, leads the first all-black starting line-up for a college basketball team to the NCAA national championship, but racial tension from conversative town members threatens to jeopardize the team.
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Hollywood takes liberties with true stories but 'Glory Road' is a flagrant foul article by William Arnold on Seattle Pi
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Reel Life: 'Glory Road' article by Jeff Merron from Reel vs Real on ESPN
Best True Story Films of 2005
Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (2005)
Unrated | Biography, Crime, Drama, History, Thriller, War | Sophie Scholl was a student activist in Germany's anti-Nazi resistance group, The White Rose. She and fellow members distribute anti-war and anti-Nazi propapanda in Munich, leading to their arrest in 1943. The film re-creates the last six days of Sophie Scholl's life.
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This Day in History: February 18 - Nazis arrest White Rose resistance leaders on History.com
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History of Student Protests on History.com (White Rose Society of Nazi Germany is #3)
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Sophie Scholl biography on Wikipedia
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White Rose on Wikipedia
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Sophie Scholl and the White Rose by Tanja B. Spitzer on The National WW2 Museum website
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Sophie Scholl on Wikiquote
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"Somebody, after all, had to make a start. What we wrote and said is also believed by many others. They just don't dare express themselves as we did." - Sophie Scholl, statement to the Volksgerichtshof [People's Court] of Judge Roland Freisler (February 21, 1943).
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"How can we expect a righteousness to prevail when there is hardly anyone who will give himself up undividedly to a righteous cause?"- Sophie Scholl, as quoted in Seeking Peace: Notes and Conversations Along the Way (1998) by Johann Christoph Arnold, p. 155
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The World's Fastest Indian (2005)
PG-13 | Biography, Drama, Sport | "The story of New Zealander Burt Munro, who spent years rebuilding a 1920 Indian motorcycle, which helped him set the land speed world record at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats in 1967."
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What happened to the World’s Fastest Indian? on motorcylenews.com
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The World's Fastest Indian - plot, historical accuracy, etc. on Wikipedia
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10 Fast Facts About Burt Munro on hotcars.com
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A bike, a shed, and Burt Munro on Museum of New Zealand website
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Burt Munro biography on Wikipedia
PG-13 | Biography, Drama, History, Music, Romance | The life story and struggles of country music legend Johnny Cash, from his childhood on an Arkansas family farm with an emotionally abusive father, to his rise to fame in Memphis, where he records alongside Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis and falls in love with singer June Carter.
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Top 10 Things Walk the Line Got Factually Right & Wrong by MsMojo on YouTube
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14 True Facts From Walk The Line by Kayla Mosley on Screen Rant
R | Biography, Crime, Drama | In 1959, New York City novelist Truman Capote reads about the murder of a Kansas family and decides to write a true story novel about the case. Capote develops a relationship with one of the killers, Perry Smith, while interviewing him in jail and on death row for his research to write his novel, In Cold Blood.
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‘Capote’ vs. Capote: History, Hollywood and the mainstream media by Phil Gibbons on Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting
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Philip Seymour Hoffman: The actor talks about Truman Capote’s moral ambiguities and supposed lies interview by Meghan O-Rourke on Slate
PG-13 | Biography, Drama, Romance, Sport | During the Great Depression in the 1930s, James J. Braddock is an impoverished ex-boxer who returns to the spotlight to fight Max Baer in the world heavyweight championship, becoming "The Cinderella Man" for his rags-to-riches story.
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"Meet James J. Braddock, The Real-Life ‘Cinderella Man’ Boxer Who Became A Depression-Era Folk Hero" by Marco Margaritoff on allthatsinteresting.com
PG-13 | Biography, Drama, Sport | In 1999, Ken Carter introduces tough rules and higher academic standards for the high school basketball team in Richmond, California, shutting down a winning season when the players' grades drop below standards.
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Coach Carter Documentary-the real coach carter (1 of 2) on YouTube
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Coach Carter Documentary-the real coach carter (2 of 2) on YouTube
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Coach Carter True Story: How Much Is Real & What Happened Next by Colin McCormick, Raven Monroe, and Tom Russell on Screen Rant
Unrated | Biography, Drama, Medical | In the early 1920s, Franklin D. Roosevelt battles with polio, which threatens his political career. He desperately searches for a cure, hoping to regain the use of his legs, when he learns of a promising spa in Warm Springs, Georgia.
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Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Spirit of Warm Springs article by Ashley Aultman from the National World War II Museum
PG-13 | Drama, History, Music, Romance, War | In December 1914 during World War I, the French, Scottish, and German soldiers in the trenches of the Western Front have an unofficial Christmas truce between opposing sides.
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Comparing history with Joyeux Noël on Based on a True Story Podcast
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The Real Story of the Christmas Truce article on the Imperial War Musuems website
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Voices of the First World War: The Christmas Truce article on the Imperial War Musuems website, including first-hand accounts in the soldiers' own words
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WWI’s Christmas Truce: When Fighting Paused for the Holiday by A.J. Baime & Volker Janssen on history.com
Best True Story Films of 2004
R | Comedy, Drama, Romance | A young man returns to his small New Jersey hometown for his mother's funeral after a decade of estrangement. He is confronted by aspects of the life he left behind, and he develops a new relationship with a compulsive liar and amateur musician.
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18 Facts About Garden State by Roger Cormier on Mental Floss
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GARDEN STATE - Q&A with Zach Braff on Phase9 Entertainment
PG | Biography, Drama, Kids & Family | Author J.M. Barrie develops a friendship with the widowed Sylvia and her four sons, who inspire him to write Peter Pan, his most famous play.
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J.M. Barrie & Peter Pan Origins: Finding Neverland vs. Reality by Andre Soares on altfg.com
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5 things they changed from history in the movie Finding Neverland by Based on a True Story Podcast on YouTube
PG-13 | Biography, Drama, Music | The life story of rhythm and blues and soul musician Ray Charles, portaying his humble beginnings in the South, where he went blind at a young age, and his rise to stardom in the 1950s to 1960s, when he engages in drug addiction and infidelity in his life on the road.
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The Dark Side of Ray Charles That the Film ‘Ray’ Failed to Recognize on Showbiz CheatSheet
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It’s a Shame About Ray by David Ritz on Slate
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Reel To Real: Was Music Legend Ray Charles Really A Legendary Womanizer? on MTV
R | Biography, Drama, History, War | Adolf Hitler's private secretary, Traudl Junge, narrates Hitler's final days in his Berlin bunker near the end of World War II in April 1945. Based on Traudl Junge’s memoir Until the Final Hour, historian Joachim Fest’s Inside Hitler’s Bunker, and other memoirs.
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Is Downfall historically correct? on Axis History Forum
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Blind Spot (2002) is the documentary source of the opening and closing interviews with Junge. Read the documentary reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb.
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Unearthed Eyewitness Reports of Hitler's Final Days from The Smithsonian Channel on YouTube
Best True Story Films of 2003
PG-13 | Drama, History, Sport | During the Great Depression, a businessman whose son tragically passed away, a jockey with a history of injuries, and a poor horse trainer team up with Seabiscuit, an undersized and temperamental racehorse.
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How real is the reel Seabiscuit? by Jeff Merron on ESPN
PG-13 | Drama, Journalism | Young journalist Stephen Glass is discovered to have fabricated more than half of his articles for The New Republic magazine.
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Steve and Me: How accurate a portrayal of journalism is Shattered Glass? by David Plotz on Slate
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Stephen Glass Interview (2003) on YouTube
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Chuck Lane Interview About Stephen Glass (Audio) PART 1 on YouTube
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Chuck Lane Interview About Stephen Glass (audio) Part 2 on YouTube
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Adam L. Penenberg: “My Life As... “ (Excerpt: Behind the Story of Shattered Glass) on YouTube
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In Re Stephen Glass: Oral Arguments on CaliforniaCourts YouTube Channel
TV-14 | Biography, Drama, Education | Liz Murray is a young girl with drug-addicted parents and who begins living on the streets at age 15, but after experiencing a tragedy, she returns to school to get her education.
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TV-PG | Drama, Education, Sport | A black educator begins a job teaching high school English to American Indian students at the Three Nations Reservation in rural Utah, where he reluctantly agrees to become a coach for the girls' basketball team.
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Teach with Movies - factual background, discussion questions, and more
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Belief in self gives 'Wings' article by Rosemary Zibart in USA TODAY
R | Crime, Drama | In 1998, the small town of Jasper, Texas attracts national attention when three white supremacists brutally murder a black man. The town's first black mayor and the town's white sheriff try to control racial tension as the town swarms with reporters, racists, and Black Panthers.
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R | Adventure, Disaster & Survival, Docudrama, Documentary, Sports | In 1985, Joe Simpson and Simon Yates are young mountain climbers who become the first to reach the summit of the Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes, but disaster strikes on the perilous descent.
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Touching the Void: The True Story of One Man's Miraculous Survival book by Joe Simpson on Amazon
Best True Story Films of 2002
PG-13 | Biography, Crime, Drama | Frank Abagnale, Jr. uses his skill of deception and forgery to work as a doctor, a lawyer, and a co-pilot across the USA before he is even 18 years old, while FBI agent Carl is determined to track down the young con man.
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Frank Abagnale | Catch Me If You Can | Talks at Google on YouTube
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Did the stuff in Catch Me If You Can actually happen? from Based on a True Story Podcast on YouTube
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Episode 42: Catch Me If You Can on History by Hollywood podcast
TV-14 | Crime, Drama, History | In Laramie, Wyoming, 21-year-old Matthew Shepard is murdered, after which an eight-member theater troupe prepares for the stage version of "The Laramie Project." They travel onsite, recording interviews with the town's citizens over two years. The film uses actual words from the transcripts.
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Coming soon!
R | Biography, Drama, Music, War | A Polish Jewish musician, Wladyslaw Szpilman, is forced into the Warsaw Ghetto at the beginning of World War II and later becomes separated from his family, going into hiding. The film takes place from 1939-1945.
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The Pianist: The Extraordinary True Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939-1945 autobiography by Wladyslaw Szpilman that inspired the film
PG | Adventure, Biography, Drama, Survival | In 1931, an oppressive Australian government policy is responsible for three aboriginal girls being forcibly removed from their families to be trained as servants on a mission settlement. They escape and begin a 1,500 mile journey home by following the rabbit-proof fence across Australia.
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Study guide: Rabbit-Proof Fence in school programs and resources on ACMI
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Moore River Native Settlement (1918 - 1951) on Find and Connect, an Australian government website for history and information about Australian orphanages and similar institutions
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Moore River Native Settlement facts for kids on Kiddle, an encyclopedia for kids
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Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence by Doris Pilkington book on which the film was based
R | Action, Drama, History, War | Based on the book "We Were Soldiers Once...and Young" by Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore and journalist Joseph L. Galloway, this war drama depicts the first major battle between the United States and North Vietnam. It portrays the soldiers on both sides and the U.S. soldiers' wives coping in waiting at home for news about the life or death of their husbands.
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Rotten Tomatoes
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History Buffs: We Were Soldiers video on YouTube
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Battle of Ia Drang on britannica.com
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This Day In History: November 14, 1965 - Major battle erupts in the Ia Drang Valley on history.com
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This Day in History: November 17, 1965 - 1st Cavalry unit ambushed in the Ia Drang Valley on history.com
G | Drama, Family, Sport | Jim Morris is a Texas high school chemistry teacher and baseball coach who agrees to try out for a major league team if his high school team wins the district championship.
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Best True Story Films of 2001
PG-13 | Biography, Drama, History, Medical | John Forbes Nash, Jr. is an asocial mathematical genius who accepts secret work in cryptography and who experiences notoriety, a mental health nightmare, and acclaim.
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History vs. Hollywood: A Beautiful Mind by Lawrence Henry on The American Spectator
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A Beautiful Mind’s John Nash is nowhere near as complicated as the real one. by Chris Suellentrop on Slate
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How Realistic Is 'A Beautiful Mind'? by ABC News
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How Schizophrenia Was Portrayed in A Beautiful Mind by Banyan Treatment Centers
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A Beautiful Mind biography book by Sylvia Nasar, which inspired the film.
Unrated | Drama, Music, War | After the end of World War II, famous German conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler is accused of loyalty to the Nazi regime and investigated as part of the Allies' de-Nazification program. He argues that art and politics are separate.
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The April 4, 1942 concert - the final minutes of Furtwanger conducting Beethoven's 9th Symphony before Hitler's birthday, and Goebbels shaking his hand
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Album notes for FURTWÄNGLER Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 "Choral" (1942) - "The history of this recording is well known and takes us deep into one of the darkest eras of human history: Nazi Germany, the performances around the celebration of Hitler's birthday in March 1942, and a conductor who some saw as a collaborator, others an a naive tool of the regime, others still as someone who chose to oppose from within rather than leave Germany like so many other top-ranking musicians."
R | Biography, Crime, Drama | The film dramatizes the rise and fall of George Jung, who quickly transformed from an ordinary American to the world's premiere importer of cocaine from Colombia's Medellin cartel in the 1970s.
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History vs Hollywood: The True Story of George Jung by Sunshine Behavioral Health
Best True Story Films of 2000
R | Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Music | In 1973, a high-school boy named William gets the journalistic opportunity to write a story for Rolling Stone magazine about the up-and-coming rock band Stillwater, accompanying them on their concert tour.
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Is Almost Famous Based On A True Story? by Colin McCormick and Shaurya Thapa on Screenrant
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The Real People Who Inspired the Characters of ‘Almost Famous’ by Pierce Baugh on Collider
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Almost Famous and Authenticity: The Almost True Story digital exhibit by a Utah State University student
R | Biography, Drama, Law | Erin Brockovich is an unemployed, single mother when she convinces her attorney Ed Masry to hire her at his law firm, where she discovers records indicating a Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) cover-up of contaminated water and related illnesses in residents of a California community.
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PG | Biography, Drama, Sport | In 1971, Alexandria, Virginia, the school board is forced to integrate an all-black school with an all-white school, bringing challenges to the beloved tradition of high school football.
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R | Action, Drama, History, War | Famer Benjamin Martin is driven to lead the Colonial Militia during the American Revolution when a sadistic British officer murders his son.
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History Buffs: The Patriot video on YouTube
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The Patriot True Story: What Really Happened In Mel Gibson's Movie article by Colin McCormick & Hannah Shaw-Williams on Screen Rant
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Top 10 Historically Misleading Films: The Patriot by Kayla Webley in Time magazine