Question: How does the fact that the story of WHEN WE WERE KINGS is "true" affect how you feel about the film? Is it better as a documentary, or would a fictional version be stronger? Is the way it is presented impartial and fair?
Example Answer: The fact that is it based on real events makes me want to research the validity of the contents. There are many films that have the "based on real events" comment, but in reality they have the events, but deviate or stretch the truth in some areas. So I liked that this film was honest and had real footage of the fight and the interviews afterwards. I felt that it is better as a documentary and having the fight itself in the documentary shows the authenticity of the fight. I also liked the background information that was given about the dictator and the way that Ali got along with the natives better than Freeman did. The issue I have with fiction that depict real life events is that they tend to get too Hollywood and the truth gets stretched out. On the other hand, documentaries tend to stick closer to the truth than something that is Hollywood. I feel that documentaries do not have that added pressure to make money that a Hollywood film would have. So they can stick closer to the truth than the other option. I felt that the film could have focused a little bit more on Foreman, but I have no issue with the way that the film was presented and thought it was fair overall.