10 shocking movies based on true events that you won’t be able to watch often

We’re already fed up with blockbusters, action heroes, remakes and bad comedies. In addition to relaxing us to the maximum, lulling us to sleep or helping us to digest the pieces, they can also imagine us and slap us with a psychological slap that will reflect on our future thoughts and attitudes. If we see that something based on true events is not necessarily true to the original, and sometimes not true, but it is always good advertising and PR for the film. We sniffed a bit and found something for everyone, from classics, unknowns, older, newer, but mostly shocking films that are really based on true events. Who knows, it might bring you to tears. To us they are (clenched fists and teeth we admit it).

 

Hotel Rwanda (2004)  

Rwanda was a country in the early summer of 1994 where the conflict between the Hutu and Tutsi peoples escalated into one of the worst genocides in human history. More than a million people were tortured and killed in an event that went almost unnoticed in the rest of the world. Paul Rusesabagina is a Hutu, a family man married to a member of the Tutsis. Inspired by his love for his family, Paul becomes a hero who saves over 1,200 people by giving them refuge in the hotel where he is the manager.

 

Elephant (2003) 

Elephant is a film that thematically draws on the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School in which two high school students, harassed by their peers, decide to take ‘justice’ into their own hands by killing 12 people and wounding over 20 others. The Columbine School massacre is one of the worst in U.S. history, pointing to problems of mental and physical abuse in the school system. The award-winning film is the work of Gus Van Santa, also known for the film Good Will Hunting. 

 

Bronson (2008)  

 

Tom Hardy in the fantastic role of the tanned Charles Bronson, Britain’s most violent prisoner who only knows and loves to fight. After the robbery of the post office in 1974, Bronson was sentenced to 7 years in prison, which he extended to life for his violent outbursts, fights and problems he created during the ‘cooling off’. He spent over 30 years in solitary confinement! There is simply no cure for some things, including for the combative Bronson. 

 

 

Christiane F. - Wir kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo (1981)  

Whoever has not watched the film has read the book, and whoever has not read the book must urgently decide on one of these two things. The plot follows Christiane F., a 14-year-old girl who lives in the western part of Berlin and is a big fan of Dawid Bowie. After going out to the newly opened disco called "Sound", Christiane meets Detlef, a boyfriend with whom she gradually falls into the jaws of drugs. At the age of 15, she becomes a heavy heroin addict left on the streets of Berlin in the golden era of the drug scene of the 70s. 

 

The Strangers (2008)  

What kind of list would this be if it didn't have at least one horror on it. Although inspired by a true story, it has been slightly modified and reworked. The original story was associated with a group of violent burglars who scared people and partly with the story of the Manson family. Regardless, this is definitely one of the most realistic horrors to watch. The plot follows a married couple returning home after a party. Suddenly, they are terrorized by three unknown people eager for morbid fun. 

 

Schindler’s list (1993)  

Without this classic, there is no point in making a list like this. A sad and difficult biographical drama about Oscar Schindler, a German businessman who saved over a thousand Polish-Jewish refugees during the Holocaust in occupied Poland, during World War II. He saved people by employing them in his factories. This masterpiece of film art is a film that has won 7 Oscars, 7 BAFTA awards and many other awards. 

 

The Basketball Diaries (1995)  

The film is based on Jim Carroll's autobiography of the same name and his diaries, which he wrote from the age of twelve to sixteen. In them, he describes growing up through sexual experiences, a frivolous high school basketball career, problems, crime, illness and the death of a friend, and heroin addiction. This is certainly one of Leonardo DiCaprio’s best roles that catapulted his career among first-rate Hollywood actors. 

 

Alive (1993)  

Alive is a biographical drama about the tragedy that befell the Uruguayan rugby team in 1972 after their plane crashed in the Andes in an inaccessible area. A few survivors had to struggle with time, unbearable weather conditions, and a struggle for their own lives. They were forced to make decisions they never suspected might one day affect their survival and thus endure in the hope that they would be saved. With perseverance and superhuman will, some of them cheated death. 

 

Unbroken (2014)  

A biographical drama directed by Angelina Jolie about Louis Zamperini - an American athlete and Olympic winner who spent 47 arduous days in the ocean after a plane crash in the Pacific before falling into the hands of the Japanese army with two friends. Thinking that the torture has come to an end, it is time for daily torture, forced labor and torture in the camp. The plot takes place during World War II. 

 

Spotlight (2015)

A very moving true story about the Pulitzer Prize-winning story of the Boston Globe, codenamed ‘Spotlight’, which deeply shook the longest-running institution - the church. The investigation into the abuse and pedophilia was covered up by powerful institutions and authorities, and the result was the revelation of Boston, but also similar atrocities around the world. The film won two Oscars and a bunch of other awards and nominations.

This list can be quite long. It is worth mentioning some more films like The Impossible, Monster, Hacksawridge, Fruitvale Station, Serpico, Ed Woods and Snowden... What is your favorite true story movie?