Based on a True Story

              Based on a true story. In some films these words are meaningless, simply thrown into the aggregate of media garbage. In other films, however, these words speak volumes about the experience that the viewer is going to traverse through. In the world in which we live in one can never be too skeptical about what he hears. Understanding comes from questioning the veracity of the information being shoved in your direction and things that hold true to the entourage of questions are those that are truly valuable in life. The movie Cinderella Man did a fantastic job of adding meaning to the phrase “based on a true story” and holding its own in the quest for validity. Like the movie Glory this film serves to not only entertain but to better the audience through their moral codes and value systems. The filmmaker combines true facts and events with embellished situations to instead of depicting a completely true journey, connects the viewer emotionally to the experience of the time.

            This film creates the most accurate experience possible while still being entertaining. The before and after at the very beginning of the movie with the Great Depression and the viewers visions into Braddock’s agent’s apartment shows the range and severity of people affected by the depression. Both were wealthy men of different words, had perfect lives. But after the Depression hit neither of them were spared from its wicked blade. Historically this is quite accurate, everyone was affected by This tragedy and the conveying of this message was one of the most important lessons of this whole movie. There is even a picture of Braddock before the Depression, and, like in the movie, he looks perfectly happy and well-to-do. The overall expression of how Braddock felt during the movie captured the main feel throughout the nation. Braddock felt like a failure, he put the responsibility of his situation all on himself. In reality society was mainly to blame. The nation as a whole, almost exclusively men, felt much like Braddock, blaming themselves rather than society. This value system that was created in the time of prosperity to justify wealth was now eating away at the country from the inside out. The shanty towns (or Hoovervilles) and the interactions with other members in Braddock’s place of residence all conglomerated to show the utter severity of not only the economic crisis but also the degrading mental state of the average man. Naturally, however, this movie is not one hundred percent accurate, but the embellishment does serve to better the viewers understanding of the time period.

            Cinderella Man is no different from other movies in that the director chooses to place inaccuracies into the movie, however, they aren’t all bad. For instance Braddock’s last boxer that he fought had a very faint Jewish star on his uniform. In the real world this star was very bold and obvious to the eye. The director chose to denigrate its place to avoid taking away from the feel of the movie and distracting from the overall message and plot. The director did not want highlight the Jewish start because it would turn the fighter into a hero because of the time period. He wanted to heighten the sense that he was the bad guy. Because he is the bad guy we see Braddock’s situation as much more severe, much more dangerous. And this is to capture the desperation of the man and men of that time period. While on this topic, the director also embellished the relationship between Braddock and the champion fighter to do much of what I just mentioned. While this is technically inaccurate it actually, in some perverse way, serves to provide a more accurate response from the viewer and a better understanding of the trials that men went through. Also, the scene where Braddock begged his old bosses for money was most likely false. Braddock most likely never went up to them in person to ask for money instead the word simply got out that he was in need and people sent him money to help.  But again this shows the lengths that men had to go in that lengths. While Braddock probably didn’t go there many men did have to compromise their pride for the safety of their family. Overall this film did a fantastic job of portraying a man’s and a nation’s story with as little fallacies as possible.