Top 10 Movies Based on True Stories

Real-life events have played a significant role in popularizing books and novels of even not-so-popular writers. The text versions, depicting the awesomeness of common men turned dudes, transcend the height of sublimity if the story is adopted for motion picture. And why not? There is nothing better than understanding an event or escapade with the incredible blend of thrill, emotion, action, love, passion and other aspects which bridge the chasm of perfection. Hollywood too knows the beauty of showcasing true-stories on the wide screen, and has persistently yielded some magnificent movies based on true stories. Give a look to the following compilation and suggest some more names if you think the list could be made even more better.

10. Donnie Brasco (1997):

Grounded on the real life story of an FBI agent, Joseph D. Pistone, this movie was directed by Mike Newell and features Al Pacino, Michael Madsen and Johnny Depp (as Donnie Brasco). To devastate the Bonanno crime family of New York, Pistone was assigned to penetrate between Mafia’s, pretending himself as a Floridan jewel thief expert. This gangland thriller was admired widely for the performances of Pacino and Depp.

9. The Pursuit of Happyness (2006):

Rendering the life of Chris Gardner who fought homelessness with his son Christopher, this heart-touching movie was directed by Gabriele Muccino and the character of Chris Gardner was played by Will Smith. Described as “Honestly beautiful”, this conservative movie yielded a new flow to Smith’s career for his unforgettable performance.

8. The Pianist (2002):

Directed by Roman Polanski, this movie grabbed Academy Awards in three categories – Best actor, best director and best adapted screenplay. In this movie, Adrien Brody played the character of Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Jewish-Polish musician. Brody’s performance as The Pianist was universally acclaimed with cracking positive reviews.

7. Catch Me If You Can (2002):

Catch Me If You Can marks the terrific combination of Steven Spielberg and Leonardo DiCaprio. This movie of 141 minutes points the real life of Frank Abagnale Jr., a tricky nerd involved in cheque forgery who made millions of dollars by posing as a pilot of Pan American World Airways.

6. Black Hawk Down (2001):

An effective crew of Hollywood actors justified the real scenario of the Battle of Mogadishu, a mission of the United States to capture Somalian military leader, Mohamed Farrah Aidid. This movie is based on the book of Mark Bowden with same title and it was directed by Ridley Scott. Considered as one of the most popular war movies ever made, Black Hawk Down gained the Academy Awards for best film editing and sound.

5. Munich (2005):

Once again Spielberg! This movie explored the modus operandi of Israeli intelligence agency Mossad during their operation “Wrath of God“. During the 1972 Munich Olympics, 11 Israeli athletes were killed by Palestinian militant group and in order to take revenge, a squad of Mossad was grounded. Starring Eric Bana and Daniel Craig, this movie was extracted from the book “Vengeance – The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team” of Canadian journalist George Jonas.

4. Titanic (1997):

Titanic is an emotionally-charged movie which won eleven Academy Awards and still has the capability to frame you on one posture during its running time of more than three hours. The sensational performance of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet with the acute direction of James Cameron created an epitome in the cinematic world. Fictionalization of Titanic’s ill-fated maiden voyage will be always remembered as one of the most beautiful contribution in the history of cinema.

3. Goodfellas (1990):

To me, being a gangster was better than being president of the United States. This was the persuasion of a common school-going boy Henry Hill which later inspired Martin Scorsese to direct this movie. The entire script of Goodfellas was conceptualized from Nicholas Pileggi’s book “Wiseguy” which truly justified the real life of organized crime members. The star crew of Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Ray Liotta contributed significantly to make this film one of the greatest in the genre of crime.

2. Into The Wild (2007):

This movie will definitely force you to introspect yourself. I remember that after finishing this movie I tried to distract myself in the worldly affairs but don’t no why, my eyes were running on Google for hours, searching something more about Christopher McCandless. Directed by Sean Penn and starring Emile Hirsch as Alexander Supertramp, this movie is about the journey of an American itinerant into the wilderness of Alaska.

1. Schindler’s List (1993):

Continuing his magic, Steven Spielberg directed this movie which was based on the historical events of Oscar Schindler, a German businessman who provided shelter to the Polish-Jewish refugees during the World war II. Filled with magnificence, the authentic portrayal of characters were played by Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley and Ralph Fiennes. Apart from being the #1 in the list of movies based on true stories, Schindler’s List, from the very beginning, has conserved its position in the list of all time top 10 movies of IMDB.