based on a true story

I am extremely fascinated by history, and especially the cultural and human factors that were behind consequential events in history. I also greatly enjoy taking in an entertaining film as a pastime. Surprisingly, even given these two likes, I have a hard time getting excited about movies based on true events. I've had trouble pinpointing the reason, but I do think I know a big part of why this is.

When we initially watched Catch Me If You Can through a Blockbuster rental I recall watching a documentary on the extras on the disc about the person the movie is based on--Frank Abagnale, Jr. One small comment that the real Abagnale made in that documentary was that, though the movie portrayed his mother as unfaithful to his father, this was not actually the case in real life. This illustrates a huge issue I have with "Based on..." movies. I don't trust them, and artistic license is often used to sully people's names in the interest of telling a more compelling story.

I know this isn't a shock, but little of The Sound of Music, from the character of the individuals, to the number of kids in the family, to the nature of their escape from Austria is based in fact.  At least the antagonists in that movie were actual Nazis, regardless as to whether they were based on real people. Other movies cast real people as antagonists based on artistic choice rather than because those people deserved to be portrayed in that way (Examples: Titanic, The Imitation Game, Cinderella Man, Rudy, Lawrence of Arabia, and Gladiator).

I understand that "Based on..." stories are supposed to allow for modifications through artistic license, but knowing that the story really is modified usually tells me that the most compelling and interesting aspects of the story are probably contrived. As a result, I typically feel manipulated through the story, and it makes for a less enjoyable experience. Worse, I feel like movies like this improperly cast real people as heroes and villains, and so dishonor the real people who are being portrayed.  Furthermore, they give audiences a wrongheaded view of history and humanity.

Also, I know there are exceptions to this. I've heard that many of the scenes both in Saving Private Ryan and in Dunkirk are accurate portrayals of respective World War II battles.

I did a search for, "most accurate historical movies," and found several list pages. I noticed that I have not seen most of the movies at this page, though I do recall that I enjoyed the Jesse James one, only wishing it was a bit shorter. Maybe my real problem is that I've been watching the wrong historical movies.