As someone who considers themselves both an ultimate history and film buff, there is no doubt in my mind that cinema would contribute to how I might teach history to others. Historians often get a bad rap for being poor movie watching companions because of our tendency to point out inaccuracies or anachronisms, especially when that movie centers around a historical period which we have dedicated our lives to learning about. However, I believe that many films which inaccurately portray historical settings can still be useful teaching devices. This is because no one is simply born with the ability to spot these shortcomings, rather they are developed over a long time by studying reliable sources and portrayals. Additionally, even when historians are not necessarily experts on a particular era or period of history, they are more likely to recognize an incorrect depiction when they see one because they have been trained in historical thinking. For the same reasons stated above, movies which do depict historical periods accurately are equally as valuable in the classroom because of what they do not include, i.e. sensationalist hollywood elements solely meant to retain audiences and sell tickets. Movies which I would most likely choose to show to students as examples of inaccurate portrayals might include Gladiator, The Patriot, and Fury. One the other hand, movies I consider to be some of the best depictions and examples of historical accuracy in film are Bad Company (1972), Master and Commander, Lincoln, and Barry Lyndon. The reason I hold these films so highly is that rather than going out of their way to try to appeal to a modern audience which is inherently anachronistic, they offer what feels more akin to a glimpse in the past where the audience is a fly on the wall.
In my opinion, films are a great way to train one’s ability to think historically by developing a sense of when something is off. The past is already full of incredibly exciting accounts that don’t need to be amended by hollywood in order to capture a modern audience’s attention. One of the activities I would have students do is to search through scholarly records in order to find a story that has never been told on the screen before, and make a digital storyboard of how they might portray it in film. Additionally, I would be interested to learn what choices they would make in terms of what elements are included, what elements are left out, and why? As historians we must understand that no film is perfect in its depiction of the past, and I believe our frustration stems from being exposed to great documentaries which do have the sole purpose of historical authenticity. However we should also not ignore the scope and reach that cinema has in the public sphere, and rather than criticizing it altogether, we should find ways to use it to our advantage.
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