Movies are meant to provide entertainment so audiences can sit back after a long day and forget their problems for a bit. Because of that, if a movie or show is period-set, most audiences will easily overlook some historical inaccuracies here and there. As a history teacher, I personally find that much more difficult. Some movies are so historically inaccurate that it’s almost comical how far away they are from the truth. But darn it, when a movie or show is great, even I start to overlook its glaring historical flaws.
“Wuthering Heights” (2026) is expected to be another incredibly well-made and well-crafted historical epic that gets almost every fact about its subject matter wrong. Still, it certainly isn’t the only film or TV series to have done so. All of the following movies and shows are period-set, but even though they’re far from accurate, they’ll still provide a great time. So, if you want to watch some fun movies and shows that don’t care whatsoever whether they’re authentic or not, take a look at these ten recommendations on Netflix, Disney+, and more!
“Wuthering Heights” (2026)
Emerald Fennell, as a director, has always had an eye for provoking audiences. Her past films, Promising Young Woman (2020) and Saltburn (2023), are unequivocal proof of that. So, it shouldn’t be surprising that Fennell approaches her adaptation of Emily Brontë’s dismantling of Victorian-era Britain with the grace of a sledgehammer. That’s not entirely a bad thing, mind you. Her films provoke a reaction from audiences, and those looking for something genuinely shocking will love her for it.
She’s made no qualms about how “Wuthering Heights” will not be a faithful adaptation, mostly because she’s noted how it is her unique interpretation of the story, which includes costumes far removed from the 19th century. It’s the reason why the film has quotation marks around its title. It’ll be dark, steamy, and erotic, while also containing some of the novel’s unique penchant for rage-filled, problematic characters. So even if “Wuthering Heights” isn’t the criticism of classism that fans of the novel hoped it would be, it will be an Emerald Fennell movie with plenty of toxic characters, and that’s good enough for me.
The Greatest Showman (2017)
At a glance, The Greatest Showman is one of the feel-good movies of the 2010s. It’s a musical about P.T. Barnum, with plenty of catchy songs and soaring performances perfect for kids and families who loved movies like Sing (2016) and Pitch Perfect (2012). It’s a shame that P.T. Barnum is actually a horrible human being.
The movie may depict him as kind and virtuous, but Barnum exploited almost everyone in his troupe, especially people of color. He circumvented state laws to enslave Black people in the north and made a spectacle of all elements of their lives, including hosting a public autopsy of one of his Black performers. Any person with a disability was marked as a “freak,” and the way he mistreated the elephants in his circus would make Thomas Edison blush. Even minor details are completely wrong about his life, like how he supported the temperance movement, which would make scenes of Barnum having a drink with his troupe all the more perplexing. Yes, “This Is Me” is a great song, and The Greatest Showman’s optimistic tone is empowering, but from a historical perspective, this is outright historical revisionism. Good music, though!
Anatasia (1997)
Speaking of musicals, animated musicals have always taken a certain liberty with how they present their premise. Fantasy almost always mixes with reality in some unique way, but how Anastasia blends its magical quirks with the Russian Revolution certainly was a choice. That isn’t to say that there isn’t some basis for magical realism. If you know anything about the film’s villain, Grigori Rasputin, then you know that he was an almost mythic figure in Russia, albeit mostly because of propaganda by his enemies.
Anastasia takes this propaganda quite literally and makes him a lich sorcerer with powers over life and death, who seeks to kill Anastasia for vengeance. The only problem is that, in real life, Anastasia and the rest of the Romanov family died in the Russian Revolution, well after Rasputin’s death. In Anastasia, she merely gets amnesia and lives among peasants for a decade. It’s definitely a kid-friendly take on the story that is tonally in line with other animated musicals of the era, but man, does Anastasia play fast and loose with history. Again, good music, though!
Gladiator (2000)
Every year, as a history teacher, I teach about the Roman Empire, and every time a student asks me to watch Gladiator, I tell them no. Why? Because it is incredibly inaccurate in almost every way. Marcus Aurelius, while generally considered one of the best emperors of the Pax Romana and a focal point of Gladiator’s two-hour and 35-minute plot, wasn’t quite as saintly and pure as he was here. Commodus also had some changes, weirdly making him less of a monster than he was in real life.
Those are all issues, but they’re not as significant as how the Colosseum and the gladiators within it are. It was violent, but not as much of a spectacle as it is here, and seeing a famous Roman general like Commodus reduced to an enslaved gladiator was virtually impossible. All of it makes for great popcorn entertainment, though, with plenty of brutal battles and bloodshed that match other historically questionable greats like Braveheart (1995). At the very least, unlike its sequel Gladiator II (2024), the issues aren’t so overwhelming that they detract from the plot.
Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)
After a certain point, if a film is so far removed from the actual events and is meant to be a retelling, is it even a historical film anymore? That’s a question that exists throughout Good Morning, Vietnam, a movie that more than earns its status as one of Robin Williams’ best roles, even if the film is almost entirely fictional.
When developing the film, Adrian Cronauer never intended it to be accurate to his experiences in the Vietnam War. He said that the most accurate thing about his life was the slogan he said at the beginning of every radio broadcast. It was mostly a Robin Williams vehicle that just so happened to be set in Vietnam, but that was good enough for Cronauer. He gave the film his seal of approval and was happy with how it turned out, and why shouldn’t he have been? It carries the spirit of wartime comedies like M*A*S*H (1972) and manages to make viewers laugh several times during its two-hour runtime. It’s one of the best comedies Robin Williams has ever starred in, and if it has the subject’s blessing, does it really matter if it gets most of the details wrong?
Cool Runnings (1993)
The Olympics are one of the oldest competitions in human history, originating in Ancient Greece and then revived there in 1896. Since then, hundreds of countries have competed in both summer and winter sports, and Cool Runnings showcases one of the most famous and unrealistic underdog sports stories of the ‘80s.
Yes, Cool Runnings is a fun story about athletes from Jamaica coming together to form a bobsled team for the 1988 Olympics, but the true events aren’t quite as inspiring. The film paints them as contenders with the potential to take first place, but the reality was that they were consistently one of the worst teams competing that year. They were also shown as triumphantly finishing the race, even after they crashed with rapturous audience applause. When they crashed in the actual event, they were dejected and only had a few claps. Cool Runnings may oversell the story of the Jamaican bobsled team, but thanks to the saccharine charm of Disney, it helps make the film stand as one of the best underdog sports stories of the era, alongside The Mighty Ducks (1992).
Shakespeare in Love (1998)
Shakespeare in Love is a controversial film for many reasons. It took Best Picture from Saving Private Ryan (1998). Dame Judi Dench won for Best Supporting Actress for only appearing in eight minutes of the film’s two-hour and three-minute runtime. And, most importantly, it is woefully historically inaccurate.
Adapting anything having to do with William Shakespeare leaves a lot to creative liberty; just look at Hamnet (2025) for another loose adaptation of his life, but Shakespeare in Love takes it to another level. Details about his life are wrong, the movie mentions locations that didn’t exist yet, women are played by women in his plays when young boys historically played them, and the Queen herself appearing in public to see a show is mind-boggling. And yet none of that really matters. It’s a sweet romance, with plenty of jokes and swooning emotions that feel more at home in films like Moulin Rouge! (2001). Shakespeare in Love isn’t actively trying to be an authentic recreation of Shakespeare’s life. It’s just a charming romantic comedy perfect for people who just want to watch something lighthearted and fun.
Bridgerton (2020-Present)
While we’re on the subject of cute romances with tinges of history mixed in, it’s impossible not to talk about Bridgerton. Netflix’s darling historical romance series has been one of its best-performing shows on the platform since it debuted in 2020, and it’s nowhere near historically accurate to the time period.
Then again, much like Shakespeare in Love, it’s not trying to be. Like a game of telephone, the series interprets the books, which are also an interpretation of Britain’s Regency era. The fashion, style, and presentation are all on point, but the royal family isn’t, and the way the series blends a variety of races and genders in Britain’s history, sadly, isn’t accurate to the time period. But the show doesn’t care about any of that. It’s filled to the brim with tea to be spilled, melodrama to be had, and a whole lot of character relationships to follow. As a fusion of Downton Abbey (2010) and Outlander (2014), Bridgerton delivers historical-flavored drama that may not be totally accurate, but has the style to carry itself into the hearts of its viewers.
Peaky Blinders (2013-2022)
There’s nothing quite like a good crime drama. History is filled with the rise and falls of criminal empires, and many production studios have gone to great lengths to depict them with as much grit and grime as possible. Some are historically accurate, like Donnie Brasco (1997), and others are like Peaky Blinders.
That isn’t to say Peaky Blinders isn’t good. All six seasons are excellent, and it sits alongside The Sopranos (1999) as one of the best crime dramas to ever air on television, but the exploits of the Peaky Blinders are far removed from reality. Their iconic look is accurate, though the idea that they carry razors in their hats is a stretch at best, given the time period. Speaking of, the Blinders themselves weren’t active at all post World War I, as the show claims, as they were mostly prominent in Birmingham from the late 1890s up to the end of World War I. Like most historical crime dramas, it’s rooted in reality and does a good job recreating post-war England, but not really at telling the true story of the Peaky Blinders.
10,000 BC (2008)
The problem with historical accuracy is that the further you go back in time, the harder it is to verify whether events are true or not. But sometimes, you can just tell by looking at a movie that what you’re watching isn’t rooted anywhere in reality and is just plain nonsense. Ladies and gentlemen, 10,000 BC is pure nonsense.
10,000 BC’s version of the Neolithic Age is wrong on almost every level. The construction of the pyramids being off by several thousand years, the plethora of extinct animals just wandering around Eurasia, tools like the sextant appearing, and the fact that they’re using steel is just outrageous. It may not seem like too big an offense if you don’t know anything about ancient history, but trust me, it’s bad. But my god, Roland Emmerich knows how to make the best kind of dumb action. It’s dumb, but dumb in the same way that Sharknado (2013) is dumb. It’s perfect to get some popcorn and have a good laugh with some friends. Just please don’t take anything the film says as fact. Please.
