Welcome to History Lesson, where we take a closer look at the movies that dare to tackle real-life events with varying levels of accuracy, drama, and WTF casting choices. These films promise to educate and entertain, but more often than not, they rewrite history with the subtlety of a sledgehammer. We’ll be your guide through the land of miscast biopics, dramatic embellishments, and historical “inspired-by” liberties, breaking down whether these flicks are Golden Reel Award-worthy masterpieces or just a big-budget Wikipedia summary. Either way, it’s more fun than your high school history class—and there’s popcorn.
This time around we will take a look at Season 1's fact-based slate....
HISTORY LESSON: Green River (Director’s Cut)
Green River (Director’s Cut) dives into the chilling hunt for one of America’s most prolific serial killers, the Green River Killer. Miles Teller plays rookie detective Dave Reichert, who spends years piecing together clues with the help of Russell Crowe’s grizzled Robert Keppel, while Robert Downey Jr.’s Ted Bundy pops in to give Hannibal Lecter-esque advice. The movie meanders between grim body discoveries, courtroom-ready exposition, and a brooding Crowe. By the time Reichert finally arrests Alessandro Nivola’s Gary Ridgway, the audience might feel like they’ve also spent 20 years chasing him. If you’re into forensic and investigative minutiae, this is your kind of film.
As for historical accuracy, Green Rive is a little more of a mixed bag than Ridgway’s alibis. The film captures the slow grind of the investigation and highlights Keppel’s real-life interactions with Bundy, but it plays fast and loose with Reichert’s rookie status and the involvement of key players. Reichert was no fresh-faced newbie when he tackled the case, and Bundy’s cryptic help wasn’t quite the Silence of the Lambs moment the film portrays. Nivola’s Ridgway oozes creepiness, but the timeline compresses years of painstaking detective work into what feels like a long week in movie time. Still, it’s a more than serviceable introduction to the horrors of Ridgway’s crimes.
HISTORY LESSON: Rasputin (Director’s Cut)
Rasputin (Director’s Cut) takes the mystic monk’s life story and dials the drama up to eleven, with Johnny Depp delivering a performance that’s equal parts hypnotic and hammy. The film leans heavily into Rasputin’s alleged mystical powers, starting with him chatting with the Virgin Mary in a blizzard and ending with him surviving several rounds of poisoning and gunfire. Vera Farmiga’s Alexandra oscillates between religious fervor and dramatic head-clutching, while Nicholas Hoult’s Prince Felix Yusupov might as well twirl a mustache every time he’s on screen. It's a fever dream of bad decisions and exaggerated accents, perfect for anyone who thinks history class needed more drunken tantrums and poisoned cake.
In terms of historical accuracy, the film runs as wild as Rasputin himself. Sure, Rasputin did hold sway over the Romanovs, and Yusupov’s assassination attempt is as bizarrely convoluted as depicted. However, the Virgin Mary visions and “pain transfer" healing scenes seem ripped from a supernatural thriller rather than historical records. Also, Rasputin was a complex and controversial figure, but here he’s distilled into a caricature of mysticism, debauchery, and drunken outbursts. If you’re looking for a historically nuanced portrayal, this isn’t it. If you’re looking for Rasputin as the ultimate wildcard, then Rasputin delivers in spades.
HISTORY LESSON: Libra
Libra dives into the murky depths of the JFK assassination with all the intrigue, shadowy motives, and double-crossing you’d expect from a film based on Don DeLillo’s novel. Shia LaBeouf delivers a jittery, unhinged performance as Lee Harvey Oswald, a man perpetually in over his head, bouncing between Russia, his struggling home life, and a CIA conspiracy spearheaded by Sam Rockwell and Jon Bernthal. The plot sees Oswald manipulated into becoming the fall guy for a botched CIA operation, while the real assassination unfolds thanks to a trio of shadowy assassins. Paul Giamatti’s Jack Ruby, meanwhile, bumbles his way into infamy as he’s coerced by the mob to take out Oswald.
When it comes to historical accuracy, Libra walks the fine line between fact and fiction, leaning heavily into the conspiracy theories that have surrounded JFK’s assassination for decades. The idea that Oswald acted entirely alone has been questioned by credible historians, and Libra happily plays into the notion of CIA involvement, multiple shooters, and a massive cover-up. It’s speculative, sure, but not entirely dismissible. The film’s intricate details — from Oswald’s failed shot at General Walker to Ruby’s fateful nightclub-turned-assassination gig — are rooted in reality, but it’s in the connections and motives that the creative liberties flourish. Whether you’re a lone gunman believer or a grassy knoll enthusiast, Libra doesn’t offer answers so much as fuel for late-night debates.
HISTORY LESSON: Every Secret Thing
Every Secret Thing takes the Patty Hearst saga — already one of history’s weirdest true crime tales — and cranks it up with the brooding intensity of a prestige drama that forgot it’s a little absurd. Daisy Ridley gives her all as Hearst, going from terrified hostage to gun-toting revolutionary with a thousand-yard stare. Meanwhile, Anthony Mackie’s Cinque delivers his political manifestos with all the gravitas of a cult leader who knows he’s kind of making it up as he goes along. Logan Lerman and Jena Malone also show up to make the SLA look just functional enough to be a danger but disorganized enough to, well, die in a fiery police raid. By the time Ridley’s Hearst is holding a rifle and answering to “Tania,” you’re either riveted, rolling your eyes, or both.
As for historical accuracy, the movie leans hard into the brainwashing defense, turning Hearst’s arc into a masterclass in Stockholm Syndrome that’s probably oversimplified. The film does stick to the facts of her involvement with the SLA, including the chaotic food giveaway that turned into a disaster and the infamous bank robbery, but Hearst’s romantic fling with Willie Wolfe feels more like dramatic license than confirmed history. And while the movie goes all-in on making the SLA’s antics look menacing, it conveniently sidesteps just how laughably amateurish their plans were. You could almost call it the Tiger King of 1970s radicalism if it weren’t played so straight.
HISTORY LESSON: Roanoke
Roanoke takes one of America’s greatest historical mysteries and slaps a supernatural twist on it, delivering ghostly Vikings, wraiths with a taste for innocent souls, and Robert Pattinson attempting to out-brood the literal forces of evil long before he did the same thing as Batman. The movie opens with a haunted setup worthy of any horror flick: a settler locked out in a blizzard gets ghost-murdered while another opts for a hanging rather than deal with the restless spirits. Enter Pattinson as Ananias Dare, a reluctant leader tasked with solving the colony’s ghost problem while ignoring his wife’s very reasonable suggestion to leave the cursed island. Ellie Bamber’s Eleanor Dare has disturbing visions, crops fail, and colonists die horribly — all classic signs to pack up and go.
As far as historical accuracy goes, let’s just say the film went off the rails faster than you can say "Croatoan." The actual disappearance of the Roanoke colonists? A complex tale of strained relations with Native Americans, harsh living conditions, and a governor (John White) who was gone for years. The Viking ghost plot? Not even a footnote in the history books. But hey, we’ll give the film points for working in Virginia Dare as the first English child born in America, even if her survival here — adopted by a Native tribe — feels more like The Jungle Book than historical fact. If you’re looking for authenticity, keep walking. If you want to see Pattinson glare meaningfully at ethereal Norsemen while setting rafts on fire, this one’s for you.
HISTORY LESSON: Hiroshima
Steven Spielberg’s Hiroshima is essentially The Post meets Schindler’s List but with nukes. Playing President Truman, Tom Hanks spends the movie navigating endless debates between cautious generals (James Cromwell’s Stimson, who just wants to sleep at night) and gung-ho warmongers (David Strathairn’s Byrnes, who really doesn’t want to waste that $2 billion science project). Meanwhile, over in Japan, Ken Watanabe’s General Anami Korechika is all about turning the nation into a one-upper, while Mackenyu’s Emperor Hirohito patiently waits to have the last word — after letting his country get thoroughly nuked, of course. Andy Serkis even shows up as a Manhattan Project scientist to provide some moral handwringing and a side of Lord of the Rings gravitas.
Spielberg sticks to his formula of Big Moral Dilemmas and Even Bigger Speeches but sprinkles in enough fiery explosions to keep your inner history nerd entertained. The film glosses over a lot of the messier details — like Japan’s actual attempts at peace negotiations or how the Soviets made the U.S. panic-drop the second bomb — because who needs nuance when you have Tom Hanks looking vaguely troubled? It’s polished, powerful, and very Spielberg, but history buffs might roll their eyes at how the complexities are boiled down to “Truman did what he had to do, folks, now eat your popcorn.” If nothing else, it’s a reminder that history’s darkest moments apparently look best under a warm, cinematic glow.
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