When Movies Trade on Real Life This seems to be the year of the fact-based movie. After "Argo," "Lincoln" and "Zero Dark Thirty" dominated the Oscar buzz last year, more movies are based on or inspired by true stories. "Fruitvale Station" tells of the 2009 shooting of a young man by an Oakland transit officer and "Captain Phillips" will recount a merchant ship's capture by Somali pirates. Other films out or coming out this year are based on the lives of Steve Jobs, Julian Assange and Linda Lovelace. Often, in these films, accuracy is sacrificed for drama. But do the makers of films claiming to be based on or inspired by real stories have an allegiance to the truth, or just to the art of storytelling?