Best war movie mistakes of 2001

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Pearl Harbor picture

Factual error: In the scene where Admiral Kimmel is inspecting the crew of the battleship an aide comes up with a message to send some ships to the Atlantic. Admiral Kimmel starts complaining about the orders. No Admiral would ever do this especially in front of enlisted men. In fact he was placed in charge of the Pacific fleet when his predecessor complained about moving the fleet from San Diego to Pearl Harbor.

Clarence Daugette

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Black Hawk Down picture Black Hawk Down mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: Near the end of the movie when the convoy is heading back to the Pakistan Stadium, a Humvee stops briefly to allow a man to walk across the street with a child in his arms. When the shot changes and the Humvee begins driving again, a crew member or cameraman is seen inside the Humvee wearing a white shirt. All of the men who entered the Humvee were wearing fatigues. (02:05:27)

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Enemy at the Gates picture

Factual error: When the map of the German advance is shown, Switzerland is shown to be taken over. Switzerland was never invaded by the Germans. (00:05:10)

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Suggested correction: It doesn't show German advances. It shows the German influence over Europe, symbolizing it covers all of Europe and then expanded towards the East. Italy was never conquered by the Germans either yet it was part of the axis and is shown being covered by black. Switzerland, though neutral, was fully surrounded by the Axis and their influence played heavily upon the country. Its a very crude simulation.

lionhead

Suggested correction: It does not show the German advancement in true historical order, but more like a red shadow that expands across Europe in a steady pace. And just as the camera starts zooming in on Stalingrad, you can see a small sliver of red starting to spread on the south-eastern coast of Norway.

dizzyd

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Behind Enemy Lines picture

Factual error: If Owen Wilson is under a dead body, how could any thermal radiation leak through the cold dead body covering him so the satellite (plus the Admiral and aides) could see him the whole time? (00:54:10)

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Enigma picture

Continuity mistake: After the "car chase" the white car gets put in the barn. When the black car arrives it is covered in mud (so much they have to wipe it off the windscreen) from the dirt track. The white car only has a few specks of dirt.

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South Pacific picture

Continuity mistake: Nellie is called into Captain Brackett's office one day. Later, one of the girls asks her "What did the old man want this morning?" However, the scene at night between Billis and Cable shows that a whole day and night must have passed in between these two scenes. Therefore the nurse should have asked "What did the old man want yesterday?"

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Captain Corelli's Mandolin picture

Factual error: During the first scenes of the film the Greek flag used is the current one, and not the one used at that time. The flag that should have been used is a white cross on blue.

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Buffalo Soldiers picture

Continuity mistake: Just after Knoll has been beaten up we see Elwood sitting next to him. As Elwood switches on the light, we see that the left side of Knoll's face is covered in blood. After Elwood applies the bandage, the blood on his face has changed with much less blood on the left side. The blood was never wiped off.

Scrappy

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No Man's Land picture

Continuity mistake: After Ciki gets out of the trench to get a lighter from his pal's bag he lights a cigarette while he is still squatting outside the trench. In the next shot you hear the lighter snap shut, and Ciki is leaning against the wall of the trench. (00:12:30)

NancyFelix

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The Lost Battalion picture The Lost Battalion mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: When the group of U.S. soldiers is going to a higher position (to attack Germans from the top), a camera and crew are visible on right side of the screen. (00:22:55)

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Dark Blue World picture

Continuity mistake: When Karel flies over Susan's house, there is no watermelon on the picnic table but just before Karel came along, there were slices of watermelon on the table when Susan was talking to Franta.

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Conspiracy picture

Continuity mistake: In a head-on shot, where Adolf Eichmann is the main character in the shot, he is shown lighting a cigarette, fully, and lowering his lighter. In the very next shot, he is shown from a side angle as a background character and again has the lighter to his cigarette, and lowers it, although it had already been lit in the previous shot.

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Charlotte Gray picture

Plot hole: The police wanted to take Julian's father away as a Jew because they found out his grandparents (plural) were Jewish. Even assuming they were only talking about one set of grandparents, this would make the father half Jewish, and therefore in the eyes of the Nazis, a Jew. That means that Julian would then be one quarter Jewish, and also considered a Jew. But the police then go on to say that the father is one quarter Jewish, but Julian is only one eighth Jewish, and therefore not a Jew. But he'd have to have only one Jewish great-grandparent to be non-Jewish, and they already confirmed that he had at least two. The numbers don't add up.

Krista

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Hornblower: Retribution picture

Continuity mistake: When Wellard and Captain Sawyer face the oncoming Spanish, the midshipman is to the captain's left. When Gunner Hobbs rushes to the wounded men, Wellard is lying to the captain's right.

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To End all Wars picture

Factual error: Just before the cross scene a guard is holding an AK47 which was not invented until 1947.

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Uprising picture

Factual error: At the beginning of the movie there is information, that "Poland surrenders to the Germans after less than a month of fighting." In fact, the last big battle during Invasion of Poland (Battle of Kock) took place between 02-05 October, more than a month after first shots were fired. And Poland also never officially surrendered to the Germans. (00:03:30)

ziner

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