Biopics and Historical Accuracy

Research Questions

My Kit is designed to inspire student researchers to begin to examine historical biopics in a more investigative manner. Whether it be by determining the film’s authenticity and accuracy or examining the film’s choice of cast.

Audience

This Research Kit should appeal to students looking to start building a research assignment on the historical authenticity of films or biopics.

Overview

In many films, history is simply an afterthought. In biopics, however, history is at the forefront. The idea behind many of these styles of film is nearly identical to that of biographies, and are films, if taken at face value, designed to be as accurate as possible. While many are fairly accurate, some have missed the mark entirely. Whether it be poor casting, poor research, or a myriad of other problems, there have been several films that could cause the average viewer to have a skewed view of historical events.

This research kit consists of three films and a few articles discussing some points of interest within those films. These questions should open up avenues of discussion with the peers of the reader. The idea is that these films should create questions that change the way that one thinks about films that have historical context. Some questions might be about how biopics have shaped our views on the past or how some films that portray themselves as accurate fall short of the truth. 

Aimed at students who are at the beginning stages of their research, this kit is not designed to be a “catch-all.” This research kit should allow students to view the films, and upon watching, come away with some questions about whether or not they are correct and accurate and if they were right in their casting and settings. From those questions the student may find further answers and ideas that could expand on their idea of how we view films. If an instructor were to use this, it should only be used in an advisory capacity, to guide students to finding their own way into the research. While not an extensive list of films and articles, what follows is a list that serves as a base for student researchers to build a research paper off of.

Annotated Bibliography

Primary Sources:

Viva Zapata!.  Directed by Elia Kazan, 20th Century Studios, 1952. 

Film can be accessed with Internet Archive and Amazon Prime Video.

Viva Zapata! is a film reminiscent of other “Spaghetti Westerns” of the era, with a vaguely historical twist. Centering on the character of Emiliano Zapata and his men as they fight through the Mexican Revolution and the infighting that occurred between the various groups and armies that fought against the old government during the Revolution. The film stars a young Marlon Brando in brownface as Emiliano Zapata. While this practice was somewhat common for the time, and is much more noticeable in color films, the use of it is still unnerving for modern audiences.

Frida. Directed by Julie Taymor, Miramax and Lionsgate Films, 2002.

Film can be accessed with HBO Max and Amazon Prime Video.

Frida is a biopic about the life and times of Frida Kahlo. The film centers on Frida Kahlo and her artwork, as well as her relationship with her husband Diego Rivera. The entire film frames Kahlo’s interaction with others in her life and political sphere against the backdrop of her artwork, even having the actors in the film pose for nearly identical shots of her artwork. The film begins with the bus crash that shaped much of her early art and eventually describes her interactions with and growing prevalence within the Communist Party, leading her to house Leon Trotsky during his exile in Mexico. The film goes into the later years of her life, and eventually shows her death. The film casts Mexican-born Salma Hayek in the lead role as Kahlo, which lends an air of authenticity to the film’s portrayal of Frida Kahlo.

The Motorcycle Diaries. Directed by Walter Salles, originally distributed by Buena Vista International, distributed by Focus Features in the United States, 2004. 

Film can be accessed with Youtube and Amazon Prime Video.

The Motorcycle Diaries is a biopic about the life and journey of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara and Alberto Granado’s journey through Argentina, Chile, and Peru. The adventure begins normally as two mid-to-late twenty year old medical students wishing to explore the continent. Once their motorcycle finally breaks down, and they are forced to make the journey on foot and through the kindness of strangers, Guevara’s revolutionary ideas begin to take hold. The film goes on to explain the pair’s time in the San Pablo leper colony and the experience they gained there. The film ends with Guevara literally flying into the sunset to become the man that the casual observer knows him as. Compared to the other two biopics mentioned above, The Motorcycle Diaries lends itself to be the most accurate, as it is largely filmed on location and with Latin American actors in the roles. As it is based on Guevara’s memoirs, one could consider this to be a faithful rendition of his work, as well as a mostly historical take on the events he wrote about.

Secondary Sources:

Rosenstone, Robert. “The Historical Film: Looking at the Past in a Postliterate Age.” History in Images, 1986, pp. 45-79.

This chapter of Rosenstone’s book on history’s relationship with media, both still and moving, goes in depth on the reasons that historians chose to generally ignore film as a form of source. The author goes into further detail on how film can actually be a valuable resource to examine the time in which it was made and how they can help historians better understand historical events, even if they are exaggerated.The author then discusses the merits of mainstream historical film and experimental film and eventually writes on how to judge a film’s historical authenticity. 

Elena, Eduardo. “Point of Departure: Travel and Nationalism in Ernesto Guevara’s Argentina.” pp. 21-48

This article goes into depth about the historical truth of the journey that Guevara and Grenado went on in the 1950s. The author goes into great detail about the movements at the time that may have led Guevara to the journey, both politically and socially. The author even states that because of his family’s background he even unintentionally resorted to stereotypes in his own personal writing, when describing the people on his journey.

Beltrán, Mary. “The New Hollywood Racelessness: Only the Fast, Furious, (and Multiracial) Will Survive.” Cinema Journal, Vol. 44, No.2, Winter, 2005, pp.50-67. JSTOR www.jstor.org/stable/3661094

This article focuses on the interconnectivity of the rising prevalence of casting racially appropriate or otherwise racially ambiguous characters in current films. The author bizarrely cites the then-new film The Fast and the Furious as demonstration of this move. While this is an extreme example of taking racial ambiguity in film, it makes sense as the Fast and Furious films have always championed an interconnected and racially diverse group as a family.