The Godfather Of Harlem: Frank Lucas And American Gangster
YouTubeHarlem kingpin Frank Lucas.
The second Ridley Scott film in our list, American Gangster traces the rise and fall of the notorious 1970s Harlem drug kingpin, Frank Lucas. Despite a deeply engrossing performance by Denzel Washington, the film that claims to be “based on a true story” takes some creative liberties that are in some ways reflective of the grandiose nature of the protagonist.
In the film, Lucas is more than just a domestic drug dealer, he’s also an international smuggler who uses the coffins of dead Vietnam soldiers to ship in drugs undetected.
But according to Today, that is complete fabrication at screenwriter Steve Zaillian’s behest. The supposed “cadaver connection” never actually happened, although officials did consider it as a possibility at the time.
“Everybody always thought the caskets (carried heroin) — even I thought it,” said federal judge and ex-narcotics investigator Sterling Johnsons Jr., who was instrumental in arresting Lucas. “The picture is 1 percent reality and 99 percent Hollywood,” he added. “Frank was illiterate, Frank was vicious, violent. Frank was everything Denzel Washington was not.”
Scott Free ProductionsThough the film was criticized by some for its historical inaccuracies, Denzel Washington’s portrayal of Frank Lucas was universally praised.
Johnson claims Lucas was utterly incapable of garnering a relationship with suppliers in Southeast Asia, but he does admit that one of Lucas’ suppliers, Leslie “Ike” Atkinson, was capable. These drugs weren’t shipped in caskets, however, but in furniture.
“It is a total lie that’s fueled by Frank Lucas for personal gain,” Atkinson said. “I never had anything to do with transporting heroin in coffins or cadavers.” Atkinson was released from prison in the mid-2000s after serving a 30-year sentence.
Journalist Ron Chepesiuk, who co-authored Superfly: The True, Untold Story of Frank Lucas, American Gangster, argued that it was the media that allowed these mythologized aspects of Lucas’ life to be presented as fact.
Chepesiuk even called the cadaver connection “the biggest hoax in the history of the international drug trade.”
The film also depicted a slew of corrupt police officers, an idea which was so egregious to law enforcement that several former Drug Enforcement Agents filed a class-action lawsuit against NBC Universal for producing it.
Lastly, the character of Richie Roberts, played by Russell Crowe, was something of a composite of numerous detectives and prosecutors who helped to catch Lucas. This is, however, a common strategy to streamline people and events into two-hour narratives.
Hotel Rwanda: Genocide As Told By Hollywood
Joe McNally/Getty ImagesRefugees of the Rwandan Genocide stand atop a hill near hundreds of makeshift homes in Zaire in December 1996.
Terry George’s 2004 film Hotel Rwanda chronicles the civil unrest between the country’s majority Hutu and minority Tutsi populations, and the subsequent Rwandan genocide of over 800,000 civilians in 1994. The movie follows a fictionalized version of the manager of the Hotel des Mille Collines on his journey to rescue as many citizens from the slaughter as possible.
When President Juvénal Habyarimana’s plane was shot down over Kigali airport on April 6, 1994, tensions between the Hutu and Tutsi violently exploded. The death toll in the following three months was nearly equal to the entire military body count of Brits in World War I.
The manager of the Hotel des Mille Collines, Paul Rusesabagina, is portrayed with astonishing humanity by Don Cheadle in the film. He was nominated for Best Actor for his work, though critics have claimed that the narrative took some rather significant liberties.
Lionsgate FilmsAs far as movies based on true stories go, critics were more taken with Don Cheadle’s portrayal of Paul Rusesabagina than they were with its depiction of reality.
Rusesabagina is shown tirelessly working to keep influential generals at bay with goods and services while sheltering as many people as possible within the confines of his hotel.
While the movie depicts Rusesabagina as a saint, some survivors have claimed he extorted money from them, refused to let people inside who didn’t have the means, or forced people to vacate their rooms if they couldn’t pay.
The script also staunchly criticizes the impact — or arguable lack thereof — that the United Nations had protecting the lives of civilians during this humanitarian crisis.
It seemed the U.N. had taken a non-intervention stance on the crisis and failed to curb the death toll of hundreds of thousands of Rwandans who were either shot or slaughtered to death with machetes. The U.N. admitted to its failures in 1999 and again on the genocide’s 20th anniversary.
“We’re here as peacekeepers, not peacemakers,” the fictional Colonel Oliver tells Rusesabagina, when asked why he isn’t interfering with the violence. Oliver was based on the real-life Canadian U.N. General Roméo Dallaire.
But Hotel Rwanda incorrectly conveys Dallaire’s role in the crisis. By all accounts, he tried everything in his power to keep people safe. According to Huffington Post, Dallaire, therefore, strongly advises anyone interested in what really happened to read Inside The Hotel Rwanda: The Surprising True Story…And Why It Matters Today.
“For those who have learned of this story only through the famous movie Hotel Rwanda, the story of Edouard Kayihura is a privileged opportunity to put reality to the Hollywood dramatization,” he said.
Terry George asserted that any allegations against Rusesabagina were part of a “smear campaign,” but Kayihura’s book depressingly suggests otherwise. In it, Rusesabagina is exposed as an opportunist who touts his mythologized accomplishments while denying the genocide even took place.
While he established a foundation and later received exorbitant fees as a speaker, none of the funds his non-profit received have ever been allocated to Rwandan orphans of the 1994 atrocities.
Reports have even corroborated that some of the funds could have also been redirected to arm the FDLR anti-Tutsi rebel group. This militant arm operated in the eastern Congo as recently as the 2000s, and Rusesabagina was even arrested and questioned about his involvement in Brussels in 2011.
Separating fact from fiction in Hotel Rwanda isn’t an easy task, considering that the real-life truth is muddled to begin with.
