the history element of Braveheart..was laughable
http://www.medievalscotland.org/scotbiblio/bravehearterrors.shtml

That's an excellent reference, Jo.
I'd known that Braveheart was mostly fantasy (albeit a very entertaining one), but this really brings it home well.

The problem is that there are an awful lot of people who treat "historical" movies as by definition true. And there are an awful lot of people making movies who see their duty as giving the majority of the audience what it wants - which ends up toadying to simplistic preconceptions.