The best films based on real events

With films based on real-life stories, nobody can say “This would never happen” – incredible journeys, dramatic events, funny situations… it’s hard not to be drawn in. Movies on true stories are very popular among viewers today. With that in mind, here are a few that make you think.

Hotel Mumbai

Mumbai, 2008: the Taj Mahal Hotel is the epitome of luxury and security. By unfortunate coincidence, it is captured by militants, allegedly associated with Al-Qaeda, who begin to shoot staff and guests.

And the reality? In November 2008, terrorists infiltrated the Trident Oberoi and Taj Mahal hotels and began shooting randomly at people. In terms of the victims, the numbers were not insignificant:

• almost 40 people died
• over 70 people were injured

Several employees of the Trident Oberoi hotel barricaded themselves in the kitchen, where the terrorists could not get to them. The police, who later stormed the hotels, managed to save most of the guests.

The Greatest Showman

Phineas Barnum is fired from a shipbuilding company. To feed his family, he takes out a loan to buy a museum – and turns it into a super attraction for New Yorkers. Music, wild animals and an old-fashioned circus: the show is what it is.

What about the true story? Barnum was indeed an extraordinary person, but he was rather unscrupulous. He took out loans against non-existent collateral (this is also in the film, but portrayed as a gesture of desperation), sold a potion that supposedly turned black people into white people, and passed off a tuna with a monkey head sewn on as a mermaid. In general, it is for good reason that the phrase “A sucker is born every minute” is attributed to him. Incidentally, in psychology, the Barnum Effect was named after him – the tendency of a person to perceive general characteristics as individual ones.

The Terminal

While Victor Navorsky, a tourist from Eastern Europe, is flying over the ocean to the United States, a coup takes place in his country and his passport becomes invalid. Navorski finds himself locked in a New York airport with no way to leave or return to his country.

The reality? Iranian refugee Mehran Karimi Nasseri, also known as Sir Alfred, was stuck at a Paris airport for 18 years. During the flight from London, his documents and passport were lost. Without them, he could neither leave the airport nor return to Iran.

Nasseri built himself a corner out of airport seats and spent the next 18 years there. Years later, documents were even sent to him by mail, but he did not sign them, believing them to be fake. Either he was too accustomed to life at the airport, or his mind was damaged. He did not leave the terminal of his own free will – in 2006 he was hospitalised due to poor health and never returned to Nasseri airport again.

The Intouchables

An aristocrat paralysed in an accident hires a black unemployed man with a criminal record as his personal assistant.

The film is based on the book, The Second Wind, by Filippo Pozzo di Borgo, which based on his own story. Filippo became the prototype of the protagonist. His assistant was called Abdel Sellou, an immigrant from Algeria, and, like the characters in the film, they became friends during the employment interview. The warm relations continued after Sellu stopped working for Pozzo di Morgo: both got married and parted, but stayed in touch.

The King’s Speech

The British duke George is preparing to become the king of Great Britain, but there is a problem: he stutters badly and can hardly get through a speech. To help him, his wife hires a little-known Australian specialist, Lionel Logue, whose unusual methods are said to yield incredible results.

What about the reality? Almost everything is true. King George VI did indeed have a personal speech therapist, Lionel Logue. And his technique was really closer to psychotherapy than to the correction of speech deficiencies. Thanks to Logue, George VI was able to deliver solemn public addresses without hesitation.

The editorial unit