Factual error: Near the end, Jackie Chan's vastly-outnumbered forces resort to throwing stones to somehow utterly destroy a phalanx of Roman legionnaires in close-quarter combat. This scene flies in the face of what we know about Roman military superiority in the time of Tiberius. The Roman Army was the best-trained, best-organized, best-equipped military force of the Ancient World, specializing in tireless close-quarter combat and impenetrable defense. To suggest that Jackie Chan's frantic and disorganized group of fighters (throwing stones by hand) might overcome Roman legionnaires is like suggesting that cave men might overcome the modern U.S. Marine Corps.
Factual error: Ann plays an organ in a church with no electricity. And no, there was no manual bellows to make it work; the movie makers simply didn't know the difference between the operation of an organ versus that of a piano.
Factual error: In the sailing scene the boat is a modern sailboat from 2014. The decks are suppose to be "teak" but are plastic.
Factual error: Dev Patel is standing in front of Trinity College's statue of Issac Newton. Directly behind the statue is a marble wall with names carved into it. This wall is a list of the members of the college who died in World War II. It would not have existed in 1914.
Factual error: The timeline is completely wrong. The film begins in 1902, at which point Gertrude Bell has just left Oxford and is about to go to Persia. In fact, Bell was 34 in 1902 and went to Persia ten years earlier, in 1892. By 1902 she had already been travelling for a decade.
Factual error: Pretty much every medal ribbon shown appears to be completely made-up.
Factual error: During the opening credits a newspaper is shown welcoming the "49th" state. The movie is set in Hawaii and Alaska is the 49th state. Hawaii gained statehood in August 1959, Alaska in the January of that year.
Factual error: The girls missed the bus for the football match because one of them got stuck. Luckily they manage to stop a passing truck and ask for a lift to overtake the bus, which, they stress, was bringing the girls "to Trabzon." When their custodians see them cheer on TV and drama ensues, the match is Galatasaray (GS) vs Trabzonspor (TZS); the home team is Galatasaray, so they should be playing in Istanbul. (00:27:30 - 00:29:30)
Factual error: Although this 2015 Norwegian disaster film is far superior to the many American disaster movies that it emulates, "The Wave" still suffers the most common error found in tsunami-themed disaster flicks: Crystal-clear flood waters. Of course, tsunami flood waters in particular are always inky-black with churning sediment and debris.
Factual error: A library assistant is showing his cellphone to a Fed. The Fed pulls out his gun and shoots the assistant from about 8 inches away into his left temple. Another Fed, standing to the immediate right of the assistant is shown after the shot. But there is no blood or material spray on him at all. His white shirt is immaculate. In fact, there is no blood anywhere.
Factual error: The bunkers which are visible in the movie have not been prepped to look how they should in the years after the war. They would have been plastered and painted, not looking old and rusty as they appear in the movie.
Factual error: Set in San Francisco, the main female character keeps referring to herself (and so do others addressing her) as "Detective Maggie Price." San Francisco is the one place in the US where the correct designation for a detective is "inspector."
Factual error: On horseback, Bathsheba pursues Gabriel, and asks him not to abandon her. He mounts her horse, and helps her up, sitting behind him. The shot only shows her top half, because she is obviously standing on some sort of lift. Neither actor's effort is appropriate for lifting someone off the ground onto the back of a horse.
Factual error: Michael's wife meets with Longo in prison, and she has an iPhone. The trial was in 2003, 4 years before the introduction of the iPhone in 2007.
Factual error: Summer and Carmen are at the saloon and catch on the local news the report of the kidnapping. The scene is set in Tuscany, Italy, but the news anchor is Spanish actress Paz Vega, speaking with an obvious accent and mispronouncing words. To make the whole situation even more absurd, she is supposed to portray a native Italian speaker, "Giulia Carni": the last name is Italian sounding but nonexistent in reality, and the headline used for the news report, "Nonna-napper", "kidnapper of grandmother" has such an awkward and unnatural sound and feel in Italian and for an Italian audience, that nobody ever would use it. (00:37:50)
Factual error: There are several scenes in a field of barley. Tramlines are seen. Tramlines in crops were invented in 1975 to allow tractors and sprayers to drive up and down fields. Sunset Song is set around 1914, 61 years before tramlines were invented.
Factual error: Evita Peron died in 1952. In this movie, the doctor finishes embalming her during the Coup d'état that deposes her husband...in 1955.
Factual error: When Tony first goes to Johnnie's house a satellite dish can be seen mounted on the house in the background. Not in 1973. (00:57:00)
Factual error: In the aerial shot of an overpass in Las Vegas, right after the scene where the cast drives off in taxis, an Avicii billboard is visible in the background. Avicii only grew to fame after the housing market crash. (01:30:00)
Factual error: In the football match between Dungatar and Winyerp you can occasionally see the railway line in the background. This is the Melbourne to Adelaide rail line in use today. The rail line has concrete sleepers, which were not introduced until the 1980's. They can be seen as they are whiteish. The Dressmaker is set in 1951.