People may or may not say what they mean... but they always say something designed to get what they want.
I'm responding to the will of the people.
As long as the protagonist wants something, the audience will want something.
If the scene bores you when you read it, rest assured it WILL bore the actors, and will then bore the audience, and we're all going to be back in the breadline.
I'm entitled to my political opinions, and I get to vote because I'm an American.
"Based on a true story" is a come-on, the aesthetic equivalent of "no loan request refused." For, at best, the creator has fashioned a film based on his understanding of, interpretation of, and reduction of the report of an actual occurrence.