What is a Biopic?

A biopic is a movie made for theaters or for television that dramatizes some one's life story. The earliest biopic is often considered to be the silent French film Jeanne D’Arc released in 1899. Cecile B. DeMille also made a film about Joan of Arc in his 1916 Joan the Woman. Thus it can be fairly stated that biopics emerged at the beginning of films, and show no signs of slowing down.

Some consider that a biopic, from a historical point of view, is likely to fudge truths at times. This is because directors need their films to create drama, and as well to do so in a relatively short time period. Most written biographies have details that many historians consider important. From a cinematic sense, they may not be considered equally important.

Alternately, a filmmaker might presumably use a biopic as an interpretation of a historical character. They might emphasize certain elements of a person’s life that seem relatively unimportant historically, as social commentary, or to reinvent the historical subject.

It is certainly true that a biopic may not present information truthfully, in order, or completely. For example, the biopic A Beautiful Mind concerning John Forbes Nash, an exceptional mathematician who suffers from schizophrenia, has been criticized for glossing over some accusations that Nash was anti-Semitic.

Virtually every biopic plays with the truth at some point. Filmmakers argue that it is necessary to do so in order to produce art that is also marketable. Historians or biographers, however, may shake their heads in disagreement.

If one sidesteps the issue of complete accuracy in the biopic, then it is clearly a genre, which is very popular and includes some of the best films made. Biopic films are frequently nominated for Academy Awards and other equivalent awards. They often prove to be box office gems, though this is not always the case.

Past biopic films that have won Best Picture Awards include: The Great Ziegfeld, Lawrence of Arabia, Patton, Gandhi, Amadeus and A Beautiful Mind. The nominee list of biopic films is even more extensive.

Best Picture nominees for biopic films from 2000 onward include Capote, Ray, Good Night and Good Luck, Finding Neverland, The Aviator, Erin Brockovich, and The Pianist. Over 60 biopic films have received best picture nominations.

Film critics, even amateur ones, love to make lists of best films, and of course, most have a best biopic films list. There can be great debate about which of these films are actually the best, and individual taste varies. However many agree that the following biopic films belong somewhere in the list of most popular biopics. The list includes Gandhi, Amadeus, Lawrence of Arabia, Raging Bull, Citizen Kane, Malcolm X and Patton.