"Based" On A True Story

As many people know, The Academy Awards were last weekend. Usually I try to watch all the movies that are in the running before the show, but this year the only one I got around to watching was Captain Phillips, a movie about a Somali pirate attack on a cargo ship a few years ago. This movie was "based on a true story". Whenever I see those words at the beginning/end of a film, it makes me wonder. How real is this? Is this an accurate depiction of what really happens? And the biggest question of all, how much did they 'Hollywood-ify" it?

Tom Hanks (left) and Phillips (right), who Hanks plays in the film

Ok, I made up the world "hollywood-ify", but I think it is a very common thing. Movies often times exaggerate the plot to draw people in so they can sell tickets. In the film, the crew was depicted as a unit that felt of Phillips as a leader, and a hero. I found an article that says pretty much the exact opposite. In this article, members of the crew are quoted saying that the movie was a lie, and they were the farthest thing from supportive of Captain Phillips. They say that Phillips was "known as a sullen and self-righteous captain". Apparently Phillips was warned multiple times that there were pirates in the water where there ship was sailing, and he was told to go farther off the coast to avoid potential attacks, but he refused to oblige. He ignored all the warnings, against the opinions of the crew. There is much more in the article in which the crew depicts Phillips as the farthest thing from a leader.
change or exaggerate the plot of movies that are based on real events to make the film more dramatic and exciting. So, I decided to look up the story of Captain Phillips and see how accurate the movie really is. I came across something that I found really odd. I found an

But, not going that much more into it, I find it very interesting how the directors and everyone who made the movie kind of molded the story to dramatize it and change the story they were trying to tell. And for people that don't know the story, if they just see the movie, that is what they will believe. They will believe that he was a hero, even though people who were there argue that he was not. I think this is a common theme in Hollywood - when movies are made, they always exaggerate events and/or change the story a tiny bit to make it more appealing to their projected audience, so they can sell more tickets. I see it so often in American-made films, which is very interesting. After reading this article, I can't help but wonder, how many other films have they exaggerated? Are there any films that stay true to the story completely?