Films based on actual incidents are often rife with mistakes, as Wikipedia-educated experts are quick to point out.
However, these films can also shine welcome light on overlooked real-life heroes. One example is “Glory,” the 1989 Edward Zwick film about the first African American regiment to serve in the American Civil War and prove that Black soldiers could fight valiantly, confounding the era’s racists. The film contained inaccuracies, but it was also sincere about wanting to enlighten its audience.
The same is true of “Angry Rice Wives,” Katsuhide Motoki’s drama about the women in a Toyama Prefecture fishing village who started in what came to be known as the 1918 “rice riots” — protests against soaring rice prices that spread across the country, despite official crackdowns.
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