The problem that plagues most biographical films is the
way they try to encompass far too much. In my experience, the best films about
historical figures have honed their stories to focus on one period in their
lives or on one particular aspect. It’s nearly impossible to depict an accurate
sense of a person’s life in the space of a feature film. How do you distill
what usually fills several hundred pages of printed words to a story that fits into
so short a time span? Richard Attenborough tried it with Gandhi and though the result is a well-regarded film, it is also
remembered by most people (myself included) as more than a bit boring. Several
of Attenborough’s films focus on real historical figures, but his next straight
biographical film was Chaplin in
1992.
