The Real Story: The Cave Expedition That Inspired ‘Sanctum’

Posted on February 4, 2011 at 8:00 am

“Sanctum” begins, “Inspired by a true story.” That story was the 1988 Nullarbor cave expedition that had 13 people trapped underground. Unlike the high-tech equipment used by the characters in the film, the Nullarbor cave-divers trapped 80 metres underground had to make do with radio communications. They had gone into the cave to make a documentary and were trapped by a rock slide. Fifteen explorers were trapped for two days, including Andrew Wright, a producer of “Sanctum” and a documentary about the incident called “Nullarbor Dreaming.” Fortunately, the real-life explorers had a better outcome than the movie’s characters.

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‘The Fighter’s’ Micky Ward and Dickie Eklund — The Real Story

Posted on December 8, 2010 at 3:59 pm

One of the year’s best films is “The Fighter,” with Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale as boxing brothers Micky Ward and Dickie Eklund and Melissa Leo as their mother, Alice. Micky and Dickie (who asked that his name be spelled “Dicky” in the movie, so he could match his brother) grew up in Lowell, Massachusetts, a once-thriving mill town that fell on hard times when the textile business moved to the South. Dickie became a boxer who was referred to as “The Pride of Lowell.” He was Micky’s hero. But by the time Micky, the son of Alice’s second husband, was old enough to box, Dickie was a crack addict. The man who once knocked down boxing great Sugar Ray Leonard was featured in an HBO documentary called High on Crack Street. The movie is the story of the conflicts Micky faced as he had to decide whether to go with an outside manager who would pay him for training and take him away from Lowell or stay with his family, using Alice as his manager and Dickie as his trainer.

This project was a long-time dream for Mark Wahlberg, and he and director David O. Russell made sure that some of the details were authentic. The gym in the film is not a movie set; it is the real place where Ward trained and still trains. One of his cornermen, a police officer named Mickey O’Keefe, is played in the film by O’Keefe himself.

But, as with any feature film, there is some dramatic license in the characters and events in order to turn the messiness of real life into a story that can fit into two hours. For more information about the real story, check out The Hard Life and Times of Micky Ward and “Fighter” More Fiction Than Fact. Here’s a look at the real Micky and Dickie.

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The Real Story: The King’s Speech

Posted on December 7, 2010 at 3:59 pm

They were “the heir and the spare.” Bertie’s brother was the Prince of Wales, destined to be king. Bertie was the Duke of York.

Their father died and the Prince of Wales became King Edward VIII. But he fell in love with an American divorcee and he could not marry her and keep the crown. He became the first British king in history to abdicate the throne. He made the announcement over the radio, telling his subjects that he could not serve “as I would have wished” without the support of “the woman I love.”

And that is how Bertie, his younger brother, who had hoped to live a relatively quiet life, became King George VI in 1936. He knew that the United Kingdom needed to hear his voice, to reassure them that despite the abdication and the threat of war, they had a leader they could depend on. But King George had a bad stuttering problem and none of the experts of his time had been able to help. His work with an unconventional speech therapist is the subject of the acclaimed new film, “The King’s Speech.”

Here is audio of the real speech portrayed in the film, delivered on the radio in 1939.

And here King George VI says goodbye at the airport to his daughter, the current Queen Elizabeth, just a week before his death in 1952.

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‘Unstoppable’ — The Real Story

Posted on November 4, 2010 at 8:00 am

When it says “Inspired by true facts” at the beginning of a movie, we are warned that there may be little relationship between what we see on screen and what really happened. But in the case of next week’s “Unstoppable,” the runaway train movie starring Denzel Washington and Chris Pine, the real story is uncomfortably close to the heart-thumping adrenaline rush we see in the movie. While the characters and their situations and relationships are fictional, some of the most unbelievable moments in the movie are those that really did happen.
It happened in 2001, near Toledo, Ohio. (The movie is set in Pennsylvania.) A runaway SD-40-2 locomotive with 22 loaded and 25 empty cars amounting to a total of 2898 gross trailing tons ran for 66 miles carrying cargo that included molten phenol acid, a highly flammable and toxic substance. According to the official report on the CSX runaway train incident, as in the movie, the engineer got out of the cab to adjust a switch and was not able to get back on the train because it accelerated. And a very brave railroad engineer did jump on the moving train to go inside the cab and hit the brake. It was not going as fast as the movie-heroic rescue on screen, but it was plenty real-life-heroic for all who were involved.
Thankfully, in real life, no one was injured in the incident.

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Aron Ralston and ‘127 Hours’

Posted on October 14, 2010 at 7:17 am

James Franco stars in the upcoming “127 Hours” as engineer/mountaineer Aron Ralston, who was climbing alone in the Utah canyons on what he thought would be a day trip when a boulder fell on his arm, pinning him against the canyon wall. For six days, unable to move, he tried to chip or push it away. Finally, he understood that in order to survive, he would have to lose his hand and lower portion of his arm. He performed a self-amputation with only a dull knife, rappelled one-armed down the side of the mountain, and walked six miles to get help. His book, Between a Rock and a Hard Place tells the story.

Writer-director Danny Boyle (“Slumdog Millionaire”) has made this extraordinary achievement into a movie of great power, touching, moving, exciting, and inspiring. And Franco gives one of the best performances of the year.

Here is the real Aron Ralston, who now uses his story to help audiences think about what we can do to survive, how to analyze and solve problems, how to think about priorities, about healing, the importance of taking responsibility and how to be fully alive, which means being fully grateful.

Read other stories of defining moments and share your own.

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