Great Films for Realism

Far from perfect, but some of the dialogue captures the way working-class Londoners talk, and the characters are at least semi-credible.

Well-researched and evocative, if melodramatic and stylized, portrayal of the potentially dangerous effects of violent trauma on an already unstable man.

A lot of scenes and characters based on real accounts, and played very believably, indeed brilliantly, especially Ralph Feinnes as the terrifying but emotionally vulnerable nazi commandant.

Highly stylized, but with quite a few bits of very realistic dialogue and characterization, which evokes the working class Scottish culture.

The best available representation of 90s rave culture in England. Over the top characters and stylized scenes, but still truer to life than any comparable film.

No other film makes even nearly the same effort to illustrate the changes that war can bring about in the lives of participants. Action is sometimes a bit unbelievable, but the characters - with their different reactions to traumatic experiences - are superbly conceived and acted.

Everything that 'Dangerous Minds' should have been but wasn't. The portrayal of an inner city classroom, with its chaotic atmosphere and complex power dynamics, is uniquely naturalistic and credible.

Based on real events, this evokes life in the favelas and offers characters who are highly credible if a little sketchy.

Fights are stylized, but the scenes at home feel like a very authentic representation of the family life of a troubled and aggressive man.

Stylized and stiff as with all such films, Spartacus nevertheless manages to give us a nice combination of characters with depth and humanity, and pays much attention to real contemporary culture.

Not exactly super-realistic, but the characters and their struggle with poverty are sympathetically and humanely represented, and the basketball is bloody decent too!

Quite simply the most realistic representation of time travel ever, as silly as that may sound. The decisions of the characters are also mostly believable given the complexity of the plot.

Forget about the boxing. Actually a really gritty and humane representation of the life of a poor guy in 1970s Philadelphia.

Pretty down-to-earth and accurate account of an ordinary man thrown into a real-life Kafkaesque nightmare, exposing the hypocrisy and cruelty of the contemporary British media and judicial system.

Not a particularly realistic film overall, but a very credible portrayal of a very common syndrome in the modern economy, a man who does an evil job but is actually a nice guy in his personal life.

A lot of realistic touches, if not entirely convincing.

A rare credible representation of the civil wars of modern sub-Saharan Africa, which uses real ex-child soldiers and feels like a realistic portrayal of deeply troubled young men with almost no 'ordinary' life experience.

Pretty good portrayal of two mutually attracted people getting know each other, with some good naturalistic dialogue.

A very naturalistic portrayal of a very weird (but very thought-provoking) conversation between a fairly normal intelligent guy and an eccentric spiritualist. Dinner by name dinner by nature!

Carefully researched and totally believable, despite being stylized and ridiculous. Eric Bana really captures the combination of charm and aggressive insanity and characterizes the eponymous violent psychopath.

As realistic as an outrageous sci-fi can be. Characters are believable and sympathetic, and the evocation of atmosphere corporate protocol and power feels very credible.

Not exactly realistic, but has some nice realistic touches about life after zombie meltdown which other films of the kind lack, making it much more convincing and compelling than the usual zombie flicks.