10 'True Stories' You Should Take With A Pinch Of Salt

By Rebecca Ryan /

Real life stories are a major influence in cinema. Some of the greatest films ever made have been based on a true story. Today, 'based on a true story' or 'based on real events' have become phrases specifically used to attract audiences; horror films, supernatural thrillers and even political dramas will use these phrases in their trailers and on their posters. Real life isn't as exciting as cinema will have us believe unfortunately, so some real events - no matter how cool or exciting they will be - will have to be spiced up a little to make a decent film. Some films try to pass fiction off as real life however so here is ten 'true' stories that aren't 100% true. Most of them are not gross instances of lying but there are some interesting facts about the real life stories that surround the films. Other films rely purely on word of mouth and no matter how unbelievable the story is, they will insist on putting the true story line up to attract an audience. Please note that there will be some important plot points and spoilers in here.

10. Argo (2012)

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Argo was one of the best films of 2012 and has so far done very well in the awards season and will hopefully do well at the Oscars. All films based on true stories have to have bits left out to quicken the pace and make them more entertaining. Argo is based on the Iranian US hostage crisis in 1980 and it does stay fairly factual but there are a few differences; the six escaped US citizens take refuge in the Canadian embassy - which is true. However, in the film it states that the UK and New Zealand embassies refused them entry - this is not true; they stayed in the UK embassy for a few days but decided it was safer to stay in the Canadian embassy as they would be able to blend in there better with their accents. New Zealand also helped the people travel from embassy to embassy and helped them get to the airport to leave Iran. Missing this out is not a huge deal but it does mean that Argo has been added to a list of Hollywood films that eliminate international efforts from American stories. After all, this effort was nicknamed the Canadian Caper in the 1980s. The end of the film is fantastic and has you on the edge of your seat but unfortunately, none of this happened. The real Mark Lijek (played by Christopher Denham in Argo) obviously received a lot of attention shortly after the films' release and had nothing but praise for Ben Affleck. He did say however, that their real escape from Iran was not quite as tense and exciting: "Argo is also a peek into a nightmarish alternate universe of how things might have been. Could I have survived three months under the stressful conditions depicted in the film? Would I have kept my cool if Iranian paramilitaries questioned my identity? Fortunately, these are questions I never had to answer." (Source: www.slate.com) Argo is a very good film which does stay pretty true to the original story. Just take a tiny, miniscule pinch of salt when watching it.