‘Bonnie & Clyde’ Film Criticized for Inaccurate Facts


The highly anticipated reprise of the classic 1967 film Bonnie & Clyde was held to high expectations last night. However, the film’s premiere didn’t quite meet the standards most critics felt it should have, but the overall quality of the film wasn’t the crux of the problem. Some are actually questioning the factual information portrayed in the new film, declaring the reenactment to be ‘historically inaccurate’.

According to E! News, the new version of the film stars Jane Eyre actress Holliday Grainger, and ‘Milk’ star Emile Hirsch. The Lifetime mini-series captures the internal suffering of Clyde Barrow, as he encounters a number of premonitions that depict flashes of his bloody demise.

In the film, Clyde constantly battles with the desire to colonize for a life of normalcy, and the life of crime he can’t seem to escape. Bonnie Parker’s character is actually depicted as the dominant benefactor in their whirlwind life of love and crime, she persuades Clyde to embark down the fatal road that led to their historical crime spree.

Parker’s personality is shown in the much more ruthless of the two. Her character is actually portrayed in a rather demoralized light, almost granting justification to Clyde’s actions. The shift of character dominance is one of the main reason why critics are questioning the film’s factual accuracy.

However, others argue that the film’s depiction is rather enlightening, as it questions the previous perspective as to who Bonnie and Clyde really were. While most spectators have read the story, no one has actually delved into the personal aspects of their individual personalities.

But, nevertheless, the notable changes in the story have left many critics in utter dismay. Since the film is also being aired on the History Channel, a vast array of film critics see the role reversals as disconcerting. However, the film’s writers feel otherwise.

Bonnie & Clyde co-writers, Joe Batteer and John Rice recently spoke with TheWrap in reference to the critical views of the film. They both weighed in on the critical perspective to shed light on their vision for the revised version of the film. “Even the best documentary isn’t actually true with a capital T,” Batteer explained to TheWrap. ” There’s opinions and points of view. Ultimately, we’re dramatists and we’re trying to tell a story. We don’t just want to write down the facts. Hell, anyone can do that. We’re interested in telling a tale, taking people on a ride and we think we did.”

Rice went on to compare the alternative personality angles in Bonnie & Clyde to that of the changes presented in the reenactment of Mozart, which chronicled the famous pianist and composer’s life.

“My favorite movie was Amadeus,” adds Rice. “And it exposed me to Mozart by making a drama where there’s a lot of truth and there’s a lot of conceit that probably isn’t true in any way at all. But, it worked as a movie and made us aware of this man’s life. We like to say there are 57 truths in Bonnie & Clyde that people don’t know anything about. Other movies didn’t get four hours of screen time to tell all the truths. Our conceit is based on truth for both of the characters, that everything is 100 percent true is probably not true… There’s so much that we get to tell by shaping it as a drama that adheres first to a story that people want to watch as opposed to a historical retelling in a chronological order.”

Bonnie & Clyde concludes tonight at 9:00 p.m. ET on the History Channel, Lifetime, and A&E.

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