History WebVideo / HistoryBuffs

** Also at issue is the treatment of the American Revolution in ''Film/ThePatriot2000'', especially where slaves are concerned. The movie suggests that UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington's promise to free black men who fought for the Revolution embodied the American ideal of equality, when what really happened was that the Americans were desperate to counteract a similar offer made to the slaves by the British and stop them from gaining an advantage. Not only did American ideals not apply to non-whites at the time of the Revolution, but most of the black men who fought for the Americans ended up never being freed. Creator/MelGibson's character Benjamin Martin technically counts, as one of the inspirations for the character, Francis Marion, was a slave-owner whose slaves fled his plantation and willingly enlisted with the British... which, as Nick points out, tells you he was pretty despicable as a person.

** ''Film/{{Tombstone}}'', along with other films about Wyatt Earp and his posse, have always portrayed them as good lawmen fighting the Cowboys to protect the town of Tombstone. In truth, Wyatt and his posse were largely only viewed as the good guys because they had badges, and the Earp Vendetta Ride was them breaking the law to ruthlessly kill Cowboys as revenge for the maiming of Virgil and the death of Morgan.

** Discussed in several videos about historical authenticity vs. historical accuracy. Nick notes that if something is done authentically then it's understandable that some license to be taken with the events and accuracy isn't that big of a deal. This is especially important for historical films that are not documentaries as despite trying to be accurate, their first and foremost objective is to be entertaining, so some leeway is to be had. For example, in ''Film/TheDeathOfStalin'', none of the actors even attempt to use Russian accents despite it being set in the Soviet Union. However, each person has an accent that would be analogous to a stereotype of the region they're from (such as Stalin having a Cockney accent due to him having a Georgian accent while speaking Russian). This makes the character's roots much easier to understand as well as avoiding the {{Narm}} of a bad Russian accent. Nick's usually fine with completely fictional characters who were based on existing people (so long as they're used in the correct historical context).

*** Nick calls it unrealistic and a continuity error that no one bats an eye at the cowboys' shooting their guns into the ceiling to deliver a standing ovation at the Birdcage Saloon. [[RealityIsUnrealistic Except the gunfire at the show is true]]. People would fire their weapons as a way of showing their approval for the show. There are over 100 bullet holes in the Birdcage's ceiling as proof.

** Nick finds it absurd that in ''Film/{{Braveheart}}'', the Scottish were able to defeat the English at the Battle of Stirling despite the fact the former didn't wear anything but fur and kilts, which should have made it much easier for the armored English to defeat them. Furthermore, the battle in question was actually called the Battle of Stirling Bridge as it took place at a bridge and not an open field.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: InUniverse, Nick points out how in ''Film/{{Tombstone}}'', the Earps are depicted as heroes and the Cowboys as a menace, but the reality was not so simple. He demonstrates this by pointing out that the gunfight at the OK Corral only served to divide the public in Tombstone, with some people seeing the Earps as heroes and others seeing them as cold blooded murderers. A lot of this, he points out, could be boiled down to simple politics: rural farmers and ranchers, who leaned towards the Democrats, despised the influx of Republican businessmen, miners and merchants who'd moved into Tombstone, and were thus inclined to view the Earps as government enforcers who backed big business at their expense; meanwhile, the Republicans were intent on taming the Wild West and viewed the Earps as guardians of law and order. This division can even be seen when comparing the newspaper coverage of the gunfight by the Republican-leaning ''Tombstone Epitapth'' with the coverage from the Democratic-leaning ''Tombstone Daily Nugget'' (who were sympathetic towards Sheriff Johnny Behan and the Cowboys as a whole).

** Related to this idea is PoliticallyCorrectHistory. If a film wants to tell a real world event, it needs to be truthful to the times in which the film came out as much as it can, meaning it needs to show all the past [[DeliberateValuesDissonance things that are not acceptable by today's standard]]. Several films he talks about with it get him very frustrated because its needless change to fit a political agenda and nothing more, and just hurts the overall quality of the films attempt to be "historically accurate".

*** The movie skips over the Earps' failed attempt to run a stagecoach business before they rejoined law enforcement. Also because it would make them look less heroic if it were shown that their return to law enforcment [[OnlyInItForTheMoney was motivated by money]].

** In ''Film/TheLastSamurai'', Moritsugu Katsumoto is portrayed as an honorable warrior who refuses to use guns and rebels against the Japanese government out of noble intentions as he feared his country was losing its traditions as a result of the government's modernization programs. In reality, the man Katsumoto was based on, Saigo Takamori, had no problems in using guns and was an early supporter of the government's modernization programs. His reason for rebelling were more selfish as he opposed the government's plans to end the special laws and privileges the samurai used to enjoy, like the right to kill peasants with impunity.

** In ''Film/GoodFellas'', Paul Cicero is depicted as an intimidating but AffablyEvil [[EvilMentor mentor]] to Henry Hill who doesn't commit any violent acts onscreen. In reality, Paul Vario was just as vicious as Jimmy Burke/Conway and Tommy [=DeSimone=]/[=DeVito=], and Nick shows a documentary clip of the real Hill recalling Vario's assault of a barmaid with a baseball bat. Also, while the film doesn't give this treatment to Tommy [=DeSimone=]/[=DeVito=] in the slightest, Nick does mention one incident he did that wasn't brought up in the film, though likely because Henry Hill was the only source for it: at one point while Henry was in prison, Tommy tried to rape Henry's wife Karen; Paul Vario, whom Karen was having an affair with at the time, [[ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend was enraged by this]] and sold Tommy out to the Gambino crime family for this and the murder of Billy Batts. The rest of the film is largely an aversion, however, and its realistic portrayal of UsefulNotes/TheMafia is why Nick favors it over ''Film/TheGodfather''.

** With ''Film/{{Tombstone}}'', Ike Clanton is depicted as a full-fledged member of the Cowboys when in real life, he was more an associate of theirs. Similarly, the Cowboys are also shown shooting at the Earps' wives during their revenge hit on the Earps for the OK Corral, which never happened; they only went after Virgil and Morgan. Also, the Cowboys in real life never [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything wore red sashes around their belts to identify themselves like Bloods]].

* MisaimedFandom: In the ''Bohemian Rhapsody'' review, it's noted that when London Heathrow Airport management found out that the movie would briefly show Freddie Mercury's pre-Queen days working as a baggage handler there, they decided to cash in on it with their own dance tribute video. Nick suspects they didn't watch the movie first because they probably would've shied away after seeing how the movie accurately depicted their handlers as racist (one of them calling Freddie a derogatory slur that was very commonplace in the 1960s when Freddie's family first moved to England).[[invoked]]

** Nick feels the need to explain that, yes, Creator/JoePesci really did have a GangstaRap song.
** Does the same when he shows that, for real, [[Music/WolfgangAmadeusMozart Mozart]] composed a choral song called "Leck mich im Arsch", about licking his ass.

--->Even the intro's boring. Look, even the cat's fallen asleep.

** He also points out an inversion; the real-life counterpart to Tommy [=DeVito=], Tommy [=DeSimone=], was a tall, well-built, ruggedly handsome man. Creator/JoePesci, on the other hand, is not. He did note that at least Pesci matched his real-life counterpart in ''Film/{{Casino}}''; there's a reason Anthony Spilotro's nickname was "Tony the Ant".

*** Nick falls victim to the whole "[[MedievalMorons Christianity/Dark Ages halted science progression]]" mindset, ignoring the fact that only the Western Roman Empire collapsed and the Eastern Roman Empire (later known as the UsefulNotes/ByzantineEmpire) were the one that preserved Greek and Roman knowledge and survived until a thousand years later. In addition, even during TheMiddleAges, the Church and clergy were the one who sponsored the Greek studies which led to notions like Earth being round remaining common knowledge among the majority, including the peasants. Also, science was still studied and utilized elsewhere such as China and the Muslim world, who got access to Greek and Roman knowledge from the Byzantine Empire.

** Nick also finds that ''Film/ThePatriot'' has an excessive anti-British bias, with all of the incessant references to "shooting redcoats." It gets exaggerated when the British are depicted as burning down a church with the entire population of a rebel village locked inside -- a scene which was inspired not by any real-life incident during the Revolutionary War, but by the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oradour-sur-Glane_massacre Oradour-sur-Glane massacre]] committed by Nazi troops during World War II.

** Also at issue is the treatment of the American Revolution in ''Film/ThePatriot'', especially where slaves are concerned. The movie suggests that UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington's promise to free black men who fought for the Revolution embodied the American ideal of equality, when what really happened was that the Americans were desperate to counteract a similar offer made to the slaves by the British and stop them from gaining an advantage. Not only did American ideals not apply to non-whites at the time of the Revolution, but most of the black men who fought for the Americans ended up never being freed. Creator/MelGibson's character Benjamin Martin technically counts, as one of the inspirations for the character, Francis Marion, was a slave-owner whose slaves fled his plantation and willingly enlisted with the British... which, as Nick points out, tells you he was pretty despicable as a person.

** Nick also tackles examples of these, most notably the treatment of the English/British in ''Film/{{Braveheart}}'' and ''Film/ThePatriot'', both Creator/MelGibson films. He cites the church-burning scene in particular, pointing out that if such a thing really happened, it would have been a major rallying point for the rebels.

** A scene in ''Film/ThePatriot'' shows the Continental Army offering freedom to black men if they fight against the British, embodying the American ideal of equality. The Continental Army's motives for doing this were less than noble in reality, as they were trying to counteract a similar offer being made to blacks by the British. Most blacks who fought for American independence ended up being sent back into slavery.

** Gives special mention in the ''Series/{{Narcos}}'' review to Pablo Escobar's mother, Hermilda Gaviria, who is depicted as a relatively benevolent matriarch who always acts to protect her family. In reality, Hermilda betrayed Pablo to the rival Los Pepes cartel to save her own skin, and suggested that the Cali Cartel put a hit ''on her own grandson'' ([[KickTheDog who was in the room while she was saying this]]) in order to steal his share of Pablo's fortune.