Red Cliff (film)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyLgDcvqVAw   this is the trailer or preview of the movie

My student told me that there is a book called "The red cliff" and the book is not entirely true.  there are some changes to make the book more interesting. 

The movie COMPRESSES the story about the battle, so the history is changed even more in the movie.

So the movie changes some of the history.  The idea is to read the story and then you will be inspired to learn the true history.    This situation is similar to the movie BRAVE HEART with Mel Gibson as William Wallace.   Therreally was a William Wallace, he fought three battles and he was killed when four horses pulled his arms and legs from his body.  It is called "Drawn and quartered"   -- horrible.   The change made in the movie was the chronology.   Wallace was killed before the king died in the movie.   In the real history, the king died first and it was a later king who killed Wallace.  

My student and I encourage you to learn more about Chinese and Scottish history.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braveheart

Historical inaccuracies

Mel Gibson as William Wallace anachronistically wearing woad

Historian Elizabeth Ewan describes Braveheart as a film which "almost totally sacrifices historical accuracy for epic adventure".^[19]

Historian Sharon Krossa notes that the film contains numerous historical errors, beginning with the wearing of belted plaid by Wallace and his men. She points out that in the period in question, "... no Scots ... wore belted plaids (let alone kilts of any kind)."^[20] Moreover, when highlanders finally did begin wearing the belted plaid, it was not "in the rather bizarre style depicted in the film."^[20] She compares the inaccuracy to "... a film about Colonial America showing the colonial men wearing 20th century business suits, but with the jackets worn back-to-front instead of the right way around."^[20] She remarks "The events aren't accurate, the dates aren't accurate, the characters aren't accurate, the names aren't accurate, the clothes aren't accurate -- in short, just about nothing is accurate" ^[21]

Historian Alex von Tunzelmann writing in The Guardian noted several historical inaccuracies: William Wallace never met Isabelle, as she married the Prince of Wales three years after Wallace's death; and the primae noctis decree was never used by King Edward.^[22] (in fact, there is little historical evidence that primae noctis existed in the first place). In 2009 the film was second on a list of "most historically inaccurate movies" in The Times.^[23]

Screenwriter Randall Wallace is very vocal about defending his script from historians who have dismissed the film as a Hollywood perversion of actual events. Admitting that Braveheart is based more on Blind Harry's poem than any historical source, he has said: "Is Blind Harry true? I don't know. I know that it spoke to my heart and that's what matters to me, that it spoke to my heart."^[24]

In the 2007 humorous non-fictional historiography An Utterly Impartial History of Britain, author John O'Farrell notes that Braveheart could not have been more historically inaccurate, even if a "Plasticine dog" had been inserted in the film and the title changed to William Wallace and Gromit, referencing the popular series of British short films titled Wallace and Gromit.

In the DVD audio commentary of Braveheart, director Mel Gibson acknowledges many of the historical inaccuracies but defends his choices as director, noting that the way events were portrayed in the film were much more "cinematically compelling" than the historical and/or mythical fact.

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The real William Wallace:   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wallace

Nigel Tranter wrote a historical novel titled The Wallace, published in 1975, which is said by academics to be more accurate than its literary predecessors.

A well-known account of the life of Wallace is presented in the 1995 film Braveheart, directed by and starring Mel Gibson, written by Randall Wallace, and filmed in both Scotland and Ireland. Despite its many historical inaccuracies, the film was a commercial and critical success, winning five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.