Telling a Good Story at 7:00 PM

I watched a  movie once. It was called Black Water. A rare case of random browsing turned to full movie watch, I watched this movie at the behest of my mother, who was  at the time suffering from brain cancer, with very few days to live, so I often think about this. It's one of the last things we did together.

The story regarded 3 people, a newly pregnant woman her husband and a female friend of them, all living in Australia. They go on  a trip to a crocodile farm, and then the farm owner offered to take them on a boat trip. 

But then it all goes awry when during the boat trip a crocodile overturns their boat and carries away the  captain, and the other ones must cling  to tall treas while the hungry croc tries to out maneuver them.
The man got eaten in front of them, and one of the women (I forget which one) was bitten and died from the injuries. In the end, the final survivor  took a gun from the body of the ship captain, used it to kill the biggest croc, and got out.

A harrowing story of survival. I like those kind of stories. You know, surviving nature, and like, dangerous animals. I liked it.

And then I looked it up in IMDB. Apparently this movie was inspired by real events, which made it even more amazing! Why surely, they must have added some here, and embellished something there, but like if it's inspired by real events you expect the changes to be within reason.

For example there's been discussion  about 6 Days in Falluhaj, a video game about...The Battle of Fallujah. Making a videogame based on a real military operation  that took place within most of our lifetimes in a war that isn't even over and...well it's the W
ar on Iraq. It's like...known to be bad. 

See, that's how I chose to describe the Iraq War. Known to be bad. 

Pretty bad, yo.

 The devs have discussed that their videogame, which was already cancelled when it was slated to be released in 2009, is "not trying to tell a political commentary", which one presumes means sticking to the facts, right? This videogame, which will be released on PC, will tell the story during that battle where over 800 humans died. It's using the real people who really where there, and a dual campaign where you're going to play as both the U.S. Forces and  an unarmed Iraqi trying to escape.(BUT DEFINITELY NOT AN INSURGENT!)
It will not, however, include  certain details, like American use of White Phosphorous and Uranium shells, because apparently none of the Soldiers they talked  to knew nuthin bout this whole "war crimes" business.

From an interview these guy's heart seems to be in the right place. He's saying he doesn't want  the player to come out liking the events, he just, it seems, wants to make you feel like, and for, the U.S armed forces that shot some people there, for some reasons or whatever. And uh...if he's been trying to get this game about this particular even out for 15 years he must REALLY believe in his vision.

But is that enough? Is wanting to tell a good story enough? What is our responsibility when telling a real story involving real people?

There's a general thinking in Hollywood,which for far long is videogame's north star, in which  telling a good story trumps reality. Sometimes you condense a whole lot of people into one person. Sometimes, you just include a person that wasn't there, and then kill them off for pathos. And yes, sometimes you lie about war to make one side look better and another look worse.

In Black Water's case the real story is there where 3 men riding on bicycles (neither of them pregnant), when a sudden rise in water swept them away. One of them  was unconscious and last seen in the jaws of a crocodile, and the other two hung on to trees for a night until they where rescued. There was no boat, and there was no captain, and there was no gun, and it was a fairly shorter ordeal.

I mean...Australia technically exists.

And my mom didn't have cancer and is alive to this day.

But it makes a good story, doesn't it? It gives it that extra punch, it makes it relatable.   I mean, it seems like a total rat bastard thing to make up, but if it makes the story better, it's worth it. Right?  I tugged at your heart strings with these lies, and if it made you feel what I wanted you to feel, do I have a responsiblity to her, to you, to myself, to tell the truth?

Because the difference between heroic and  villainous in media can often be what camera angle is covering you and what notes are playing while you describe what it is you want.  The difference between invader and  liberator  can be an establishing shot of cheering people. And that's already a heavy burden when the characters are fictional and not real people. What you choose to say and not say matters.

If you're gonna dip your toes into that water, you  need to take that into consideration.

They made a sequel to Black Water.  Thinking of watching it. Will they raise the scales? Are the crocs bigger, the situation more dangerous?

I do like a regular creature feature.