Close to Home: Movies, history and truth

Three historical films, “Selma,” “The Imitation Game” and “American Sniper,” have been nominated for best picture. They are all highly touted and boast impressive casts. They are also fundamentally misleading, twisting truth and history to fit a narrative that is demonstrably false.

As a student of history, I find this annoying. As a teacher of history, I find it disturbing.

All films based on history are, by necessity, condensed, elided or dramatized. Filmmakers have to make decisions about what to leave out or what to emphasize. The less scrupulous among them might even fictionalize. Some tension between the events in the film and what is known by historians is inevitable.

However, these three films do not fall into the category of slight modifications or even modest omissions. Rather, they all represent an effort to impose on the audience a version of events that fundamentally misstate the character or the events they purport to represent.

“Selma” is not content to chronicle and celebrate the significant accomplishments of the civil rights movement led by Martin Luther King Jr. Unfathomably, the producer, writer and director decided to turn President Lyndon Johnson into an enemy of civil rights.

Johnson did more for civil rights than any president other than Abraham Lincoln. The historical record shows clearly that civil rights were a priority for his administration from the beginning. Johnson signed more civil rights legislation than any president before or since. It is grossly unfair to portray him as hostile to civil rights.

“The Imitation Game” is supposed to be a movie about computer scientist Alan Turing and his contribution to breaking the German codes in World War II. But the film misrepresents his life so terribly that he is barely recognizable. Turing in the film is unable to relate to people, is susceptible to blackmail because of his homosexuality, has no sense of humor and, at the end of his life, is unable to distinguish between his love for a machine and a person.

The truth, as noted by his many biographers, is more complicated. He was never blackmailed by a Soviet spy; he collaborated easily with his peers; he did not fall in love with his machines; not everyone believes he committed suicide, and one of his biographers believes he may have been killed .

“American Sniper” portrays the life of Chris Kyle, a decorated Navy Seal. The film deals with the emotional impact of war, but it ignores a major character flaw of Kyle’s: He lied repeatedly. One of his lies was so verifiably wrong that Jesse Ventura won a lawsuit and was awarded millions from the sales of Kyle’s book (the one the movie is based on). The film does not deal with this unpleasant side of Kyle’s character, eschewing complicated truths for an easy narrative of heroism.

Film is an emotional medium. Its impact is profound. Many of my students have watched “Selma,” “The Imitation Game” and “American Sniper.” The films will inform the way they think about politicians, homosexuals and heroism.

Historical films always face a balancing act between what is true and what is entertaining. This Oscar season, three best picture nominees didn’t try very hard to achieve that balance.

Louis Ganzler is a social studies teacher at Windsor High School.