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Best Based on true story Movies

Ranked by how strongly each film carries the visual signature of based on true story cinema — measured across 19,160 indexed frames from 216 films, against a 404,689-frame catalogue baseline. Not by box office, and not by vote.

Based on true story films over-index on soldier, microphone and tie — the objects that make the genre recognisable before a line is spoken.

  1. 1

    The Post (2017)

    Steven SpielbergDP Janusz KamińskiIMDb 7.2TMDB 7.0See in full on FrameThrower →

    When American military analyst, Daniel Ellsberg, realizes to his disgust the depths of the US government's deceptions about the futility of the Vietnam War, he takes action by copying top-secret documents that would become the Pentagon Papers. Later, Washington Post owner, Kay Graham, is still adjusting to taking over her late husband's business when editor Ben Bradlee discovers the New York Times has scooped them with an explosive expose on those papers. Determined to compete, Post reporters find Ellsberg himself and a complete copy of those papers. However, the Post's plans to publish their findings are put in jeopardy with a Federal restraining order that could get them all indicted for Contempt. Now, Kay Graham must decide whether to back down for the safety of her paper or publish and fight for the Freedom of the Press. In doing so, Graham and her staff join a fight that would have America's democratic ideals in the balance.

  2. 2

    The Pianist (2002)

    Roman PolanskiDP Paweł EdelmanIMDb 8.5TMDB 8.4See in full on FrameThrower →

    In this adaptation of the autobiography "The Pianist: The Extraordinary True Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939-1945," Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Polish Jewish radio station pianist, sees Warsaw change gradually as World War II begins. Szpilman is forced into the Warsaw Ghetto, but is later separated from his family during Operation Reinhard. From this time until the concentration camp prisoners are released, Szpilman hides in various locations among the ruins of Warsaw.

  3. 3

    Valkyrie (2008)

    Bryan SingerDP Newton Thomas SigelIMDb 7.1TMDB 6.9See in full on FrameThrower →

    In Nazi Germany during World War II, as the tide turned in favor of the Allies, a cadre of senior German officers and politicians desperately plot to topple the Nazi regime before the nation is crushed in a nearly inevitable defeat. To this end, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, an Army officer convinced he must save Germany from Adolf Hitler, is recruited to mastermind a real plan. To do so, he arranges for the internal emergency measure, Operation: Valkyrie, to be changed to enable his fellows to seize control of Berlin after the assassination of Der Führer. However, even as the plan is put into action, a combination of bad luck and human failings conspire on their own to create a tragedy that would prolong the greater one gripping Europe.

  4. 4

    The Imitation Game (2014)

    Morten TyldumDP Óscar FauraIMDb 8.0TMDB 8.0See in full on FrameThrower →

    It is based on the real life story of legendary cryptanalyst Alan Turing. The film portrays the nail-biting race against time by Turing and his brilliant team of code-breakers at Britain's top-secret Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park, during the darkest days of World War II.

  5. 5

    Detroit (2017)

    Kathryn BigelowDP Barry AckroydIMDb 7.3TMDB 7.3See in full on FrameThrower →

    A police raid in Detroit in 1967 results in one of the largest RACE riots in United States history. The story is centred around the Algiers Motel incident, which occurred in Detroit, Michigan on July 25, 1967, during the racially charged 12th Street Riot. It involves the death of three black men and the brutal beatings of nine other people: seven black men and two white women.

  6. 6

    The Death of Stalin (2017)

    Armando IannucciDP Zac NicholsonIMDb 7.3TMDB 7.0See in full on FrameThrower →

    In early-1953 Moscow, under the Great Terror's heavy cloak of state paranoia, the ever-watchful Soviet leader, Iosif Stalin, collapses, unexpectedly, of a brain haemorrhage. As a result, when someone discovers his body the following morning, a frenetic surge of raw panic starts spreading like a virus amongst the senior members of the Council of Ministers, as they scramble to maintain order, weed out the competition, and, ultimately, take power. But, in the middle of a gut-wrenching roller-coaster of incessant plotting, tireless machinations, and frail allegiances, absolutely no one is safe; not even the feared chief of the secret police, Lavrenti Beria. In the end, who will prevail after the death of Stalin?

  7. 7

    Schindler's List (1993)

    Steven SpielbergDP Janusz KamińskiIMDb 9.0TMDB 8.6See in full on FrameThrower →

    Oskar Schindler is a vain and greedy German businessman who becomes an unlikely humanitarian amid the barbaric German Nazi reign when he feels compelled to turn his factory into a refuge for Jews. Based on the true story of Oskar Schindler who managed to save about 1100 Jews from being gassed at the Auschwitz concentration camp, it is a testament to the good in all of us.

  8. 8

    Born On The Fourth of July (1989)

    Oliver StoneDP Robert RichardsonIMDb 7.2TMDB 7.0See in full on FrameThrower →

    The biography of Ron Kovic. Paralyzed in the Vietnam war, he becomes an anti-war and pro-human rights political activist after feeling betrayed by the country for which he fought.

  9. 9

    The King’s Speech (2010)

    Tom HooperDP Danny CohenIMDb 8.0TMDB 7.7See in full on FrameThrower →

    The King's Speech tells the story of the man who became King George VI, the father of Queen Elizabeth II. After his brother abdicates, George ('Bertie') reluctantly assumes the throne. Plagued by a dreaded stutter and considered unfit to be king, Bertie engages the help of an unorthodox speech therapist named Lionel Logue. Through a set of unexpected techniques, and as a result of an unlikely friendship, Bertie is able to find his voice and boldly lead the country into war.

  10. 10

    The Aviator (2004)

    Martin ScorseseDP Robert RichardsonIMDb 7.5TMDB 7.2See in full on FrameThrower →

    Biopic of billionaire Howard Hughes, starting with his early filmmaking years as owner of R.K.O. Pictures, but mostly focusing on his role in designing and promoting new aircraft. Hughes was a risk-taker spending several fortunes on designing experimental aircraft and eventually founding TWA as a rival to Pan Am airlines owned by his great rival Juan Trippe. When Trippe's politico Senator Ralph Owen Brewster accuses Hughes of being a war profiteer, it's Hughes who gains the upper hand. Hughes also had many women in his life including a long relationship with Katharine Hepburn. From an early age, however, Hughes was also germophobic and would have severe bouts of mental illness.

What based on true story films are made of

How much more often each element appears in a based on true story frame than in an average frame from the catalogue. A ratio, not a share — soldier is not in most frames, it is simply far more common here than anywhere else.

  • soldier2.5×
  • microphone1.8×
  • tie1.7×
  • desk1.6×

How based on true story films are shot

Weaker signals than the objects above, and worth saying so: most dramatic genres skew dark and night-heavy, so these numbers separate based on true story from the catalogue far more than they separate it from its neighbours.

  • 86%eye levelvs 69% baseline

What breaks the pattern

Tracks (2013) is the least typical film here — it carries the least of what the rest of this list is made of. Which is either a failure of the genre label, or the most interesting film on the page.

Method

Every frame in the FrameThrower catalogue is tagged for shot size, lighting, time of day, camera angle, colour and the objects visible in it. This page aggregates those tags across 19,160 frames from 216 films carrying the based on true story label, and compares each figure to the same measurement across the whole catalogue (404,689 frames). Films are ranked by how closely they match the theme’s over-indexed elements, weighted by how distinctive each element is; one film per series. Only films with at least 20 indexed frames and 500 TMDB votes are listed.

Machine-readable: /api/list/based-on-true-story

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