Most Historically Accurate Films/Documentaries/Video

[Ludens]

I also was distinctly turned off from the film when it mentioned the dates at the beginning. But apart from that, the fact that there were sarmatians serving in the Roman army, the fact that they worked in Bishop Pelagius, who in fact did get excommunicated for his beliefs about free will. Looking back, I suppose you're right that it should be moved to the inaccurate column, as most of the weaponry and armor is inaccurate to the peoples/time period, but I give KA props for making use of the Sarmatian connection and some of the historical events that really were occurring in late antiquity, especially since so few movies are produced about this era.

I give them props for introducing the theory that the myth of Arthur and his knights has its basis in the Sarmatian auxiliaries, but my impression is that they were muddled about everything else. Lucius Artorius Castus fought off a Pictish rather than Germanic invasion: I can only assume that they made the Germans the enemy because that is what the public expects. That is presumably also the reason for placing the story a century or two after Castus lived, making him a Christian, giving him modern opinions on religion and society, etc. This wouldn't have bothered me very much if it was a typical Hollywood film, but they explicitly claimed to have found the historical Arthur. Especially since the story of Castus is, at best, only one element of the Arthur myth as we known it, and there's several lines of evidence that contradict Artorius playing a significant role in the historical events.


Edit:
As for accurate/inaccurate films: how accurate is "Tora! Tora! Tora!" ? When I first watched it, I thought it was one of those role-played documentaries, but apparently it's a real film.

"The Last Samurai" is definitely inaccurate. Although the imagery of medieval samurai making a last death-or-glory charge against modernity (musket-armed line infantry) is very powerful, the reality was that both sides in the Satsuma Rebellion used muskets.