10 “True” Movies That Glossed Over Major Controversies

2. The Pursuit Of Happyness

The Lie: The film ignores domestic abuse allegations against Chris Gardner. The Pursuit of Happyness is a prime example of a film about the American Dream that paints it as achievable with enough heart and elbow grease. Will Smith stars as Chris Gardner who must overcome financial and professional difficulties in order to provide a better life for his son, played by real son Jaden. There's a rather glaring omission at the centre of the film's narrative, which paints Gardner as an almost model citizen. In The Pursuit of Happyness, Gardner is forced to spend a night in prison as a result of several unpaid parking tickets. For the real Gardner, however, his arrest was rather more sinister. The reason behind Gardner's original arrest was actually an accusation of domestic violence against the mother of his son, Jackie. It was only once Gardner had been arrested for this that he was additionally charged for the parking tickets. Again, this is a case of a character's real life flaws being removed in order to make the character the centerpiece of a feel-good tale. Considering the fact that the real Gardner had a brief cameo in the film, it was unlikely to be a warts-and-all telling of his life story.