MovieChat Forums > Anna and the King (1999) Discussion > Visually stunning but historically (very...

Visually stunning but historically (very) inaccurate

posted 13 years ago by akina_real
4 replies | jump to latest

The scenery, costumes, sets and of course Jodie Foster and Chow Yun-fat is what I liked in this movie. However, I was very disappointed with the historical inaccuracies and I thought it was quite ridiculous to make the movie king fall for Anna. No wonder Thai people were incensed! Hollywood has to romanticize everything even when it crosses the border of being ridiculous. Throw in some more outrageous false stories such as the killing of Tuptim or Anna saving the king and voila, there is a movie which distorts the truth so much that even artistic license is not an excuse.

I would have liked to see JD and CYF presented with a script worthier of their talent.

And as another reader noticed, if Hollywood wants to make a fiction movie, they should use a fictional king!

[–] drunkentoki012 13 years ago

Yea, it's really a great movie and I love it, but I hate that it's ripe with historical inaccuracies.

It'd be much better to call this entire movie fiction, regardless of the names of real people that were used.

[–] cmashieldscapting 13 years ago

Using the identities of real people in such a fable amounts to slander.

[–] amazon423 13 years ago

Anna Leon-owens was not a very nice person in real life accroding to what I have read and one whould do their research before believing this story.She also was aunt to Boris Karloff.

[–] brakerules 7 years ago

It is just a fictional story that is supposed to take place in this country. It is not any sort of documentary or historical drama to demand historical accuracy .
Take it for what it is. A beautifully filmed tale about a romance between the King of an exotic place and a foreign woman.