All the World's a Stage

Supposedly art imitates life, but often art is less an imitation than it is a full-scale reenactment. I wouldn't say that movie-makers are necessarily getting lazy or losing originality though- the number of book-to-movie or life-to-movie adaptations may be rising, but sometimes those stories are worth being told again. Often, people even forget where the story came from.

Here's some movies based on real-life events:

Balto (1995)

This lovable Spielberg animated classic chronicles a half-husky, half-wolf's journey from Nenana, Alaska to Nome- transporting by sled a much needed diphtheria antitoxin to a bunch of sick children. Although in real life, Balto was not part wolf and did not sound like Kevin Bacon, he did exist! The journey was also split up into several dogsled teams, though Balto proved himself to be particularly heroic. He led his team in near white-out conditions, mostly at night, and saved his team from falling into the Topkok River. The event is commemorated by the annual Iditarod Race, as well as with a statue in Central Park.   

50 First Dates

This romantic comedy featuring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore is about a woman with a traumatic head injury, who every day loses her memory, and yet is still able to fall in love and get married in the end. Though it seems like just another ridiculous rom-com plot, that part is actually true. There is a British woman named Michelle Philpots who suffered two head injuries herself in 1985 and 1990, and she suffers from the same condition as Barrymore's character. Philpots has also since married, and must be reminded of that fact every morning by her husband and a photo album.

Primeval (2007)

"The most prolific serial killer in the world" is featured in this movie, with a body count of over 300. He still lives deep in Burundi, Africa at the age of 60, and has never been captured. His name is Gustave- and he happens to be a 20 foot long crocodile. The movie itself is terrible, and gives the impression to viewers that it is nothing more than a low-budget B-movie horror film like Sharktopus, yet Gustave is indeed real. He is the largest of his kind and weighs a ton. Smaller prey are much faster than the giant reptile though, so Gustave has had to move on to wildebeests and even hippos. Oh, and humans when available. If you're planning a trip to Burundi any time soon, you might want to stay out of the water.


Though Balto is pretty obviously based on a true story even within the film, I don't think I would have believed a 60 year old crocodile famous for killing hundreds of people was hanging about Burundi, Africa. Luckily, I now possess that knowledge, and can stay far away.