50 Best Movies Based on True Events

Matthew McConaughey stars as homophobic Dallas hustler Ron Woodroof, who learns that he is HIV positive and that a then-experimental drug to treat the condition is unavailable. He finds a way to obtain the life-saving medication, and begins to supply it to others with the same affliction. The film got six Academy Award nominations. McConaughey took home the Oscar for Best Actor, and his co-star, Jared Leto, won Best Supporting Actor.

Kenneth Branagh’s film, based on William Shakespeare’s play about King Henry V of England, has a perfect critics score on Rotten Tomatoes.

This account of frontiersman Hugh Glass’s ordeal in the 1820s after he was attacked by a bear and left for dead by his companions won Oscars for Best Actor (Leonardo DiCaprio), Best Director, and Best Cinematography, and received nine other Academy Award nominations.

Martin Scorsese’s critically acclaimed “The Wolf of Wall Street” is based on Jordan Belfort’s memoir of the same name. Belfort was a millionaire stockbroker who was sent to jail for securities fraud and money laundering.

Danny Boyle’s retelling of the story of a mountain climber who resorts to desperate measures when he is trapped beneath a boulder scored 93% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer, with the site’s critics consensus describing it “As gut-wrenching as it is inspirational.”