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GUEST COLUMN: Unbelievable Movies Based On True Stories That Deserve Documentary Status

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Unbelievable Movies Based On True Stories That Deserve Documentary Status 

by Kurt Waller

There are times when you search for great documentaries, but in the end, what you find are movies based on true stories that have enough in them to be called a documentary or be recorded as one but aren’t. These movies re-live those things that happened in real life over someone’s life. It could also be a global catastrophe or some other event, and they are amazing to watch. 

Apart from teaching real-life lessons, these movies also tell a story of how an event unfolded. One would agree that one of the best ways to tell a story is to make it into a movie. But when the movies are too good, you start to wonder if a documentary would have been better. This is the story of so many movies that are based on true stories. Even the greatest documentary critics would find it hard to criticize some of these movies were they documentaries. There are a number of these movies, and a few of them are documented in this article.

Hotel Rwanda 

This movie is difficult to watch as it tells Paul Rusesabagina’s story of Rwanda’s genocide in 1994. Paul, a hotel manager at the time, was Hutu and was married to a Tutsi woman. 

Once the war began, the Tutsi people became the target, and this put Paul in a difficult situation as he tries to save his family and some of his neighbors with the hotel serving as their safe harbor. 

This story is a genuinely unbelievable one, especially given the modern era that we are now in. however, it is someone’s true story and is one that is worth every second of your time. 

Chernobyl

It is hard to believe that Chernobyl is a pure work of fiction or just some beautiful assignment writing because of how amazing it is. If there’s just one movie that deserves to be a documentary, then it is this one. It is quite telling that this was the first movie to get a better rating than both Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones, which are HBO’s most highly rated shows. This should already give you ideas as to how amazing this movie is. This is, without a doubt, one of the best films you’ll ever watch (especially with those based on true stories). That’s how good it is. 

This movie is centered on the years after the nuclear disaster of Chernobyl in the 80s in Russia. Even if you already know a few things about Chernobyl, you’re certainly going to learn a few more things from this fantastic true story.   

When They See Us 

This is one of the best real story movies that you’ll ever watch on Netflix. This is another one of those stories that you can’t but recommend for everyone to watch. This documentary-worthy movie is about some boys’ sad stories accused and wrongly convicted of rape in the late 80s.  

These boys’ story is quite disturbing on many levels, and the producer Duvernay put a lot into this movie to portray the events that happened to these boys and how their lives were completely ruined while serving their prison sentence and even after the sentence. It is one that you shouldn’t miss. 

Mindhunter

This is still an ongoing series at Netflix and is about a task force set up in the 70s for a kind of murder that happened more than once. This is a group that was labeled as “serial killers” by the FBI themselves. 

Through this college paper series, the group went ahead to interview several serial killers that were already famous at the time to create a profile that could help them catch serial killers. If crime and criminal investigation movies get you excited as it does with me, then you have to watch minehunter. 

These movie producers brilliantly portrayed the real murderers starting from how they look specifically and their different bizarre habits. This movie does have a lot to offer the viewers, so you should join the queue. 

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, And Vile

This is another serial killer movie based on the story of Ted Bundy, who is now infamously known as a serial killer. One good thing about this movie and something that differentiates it from the others mentioned before is that it also has a documentary based on the same person Ted Bundy and both film and documentary are worth every second. The movie also offers a very different perspective on the documentary, so you might want to watch both. 

The movie’s focus is not so much about Bundy’s crimes, but the long-term relationship that he maintained with his girlfriend Liz which was quite a shock, especially considering that he became infamous for brutally murdering women. 

It has to be mentioned that the movie has some enormous exaggerations in it, but I guess that’s why it’s a movie after all, and it’s quite an enjoyable one to watch. Whichever one you watch first, the movie or the documentary, you are likely going to go hunting for the other one. This is even truer if you watch the movie first, you will go the extra mile to watch the documentary too, and it’s worth it. 

Conclusion 

There are many other movies based on true stories that are worth documentary status not mentioned here. But you won’t begrudge us if we deny that one for these few ones. 


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kurt Walker has been working as an editor and a copywriter providing UK dissertation at best essay writing service UK in London for three years. He is also a professional content writer and journalist at bestessays.com.au in such topics as inspiration, productivity, education, and technologies.