10 Oscar Winning Films With Huge Historical Inaccuracies

1. Pearl Harbor (2001): Polio-Stricken President Roosevelt Walks Again!

The explosions and the time period used were authentic, but apart from that Pearl Harbor is almost wholly historically inaccurate. Michael Bay wanted to ensure action and drama in his 2001 film, which is understandable, but the sheer number of Japanese pilots supposedly shot down in the attack which triggered the USA's entry into World War II in December 1941 is just wholly exaggerated.

Silly inaccuracies including a sailor holding Marlboro Light cigarettes (which were not created until 1972) and the use of a fictional line spoken only in a 1970 Japanese film and not actually during the time of the attack just add to the frustration of those who hate to see careless inaccuracies. Perhaps the most sensationalised moment of the film, however, is that crippled and polio-suffering President Franklin D. Roosevelt would have stood up at any point. FDR was so badly struck down by his polio that he was wheelchair-bound and simply could not have stood up from his chair unaided.

Despite an Academy Award in 2002 for Best Sound Editing, perhaps more upsetting than the historical inaccuracies in Pearl Harbor is how awfully sloppy it is. Not only is the film inaccurate, it does not do justice to one of the most important historical events of the 20th Century - and instead reduces the whole thing to a love triangle. Now that is simply unforgivable.