From daring escapades to true crime, sporting triumph to government conspiracy, cinema is littered with stories torn from the pages of history. Some of them are deeply moving, some purely educational, and some are almost too wild to believe.

There’s nothing like the shared experience of watching a true story unfold on the big screen, surrounded by film-goers who are just as shocked as you are by how outlandish reality can be.

As American Made hits cinemas this month, we’re taking a look at five of the most outrageous true stories that have been turned into films. You couldn’t make this stuff up, and if you did, no one would believe you.

Alive (1993)

Horrifically, astoundingly true, Alive records the experiences of a handful of passengers who survived the crash of Uruguayan Airforce Flight 571, which plunged into the Andes mountains in 1972.

Stranded on a forbidding peak in the middle of nowhere in sub-zero temperatures, the survivors huddle in the broken fuselage of the aircraft and wait to be rescued.

The plane provides shelter, the snow provides water, but very soon there is nothing left to eat… Except for the bodies of those killed in the plane crash.

Alive documents human beings pushed to the limit of fear, desperation and decency. It’s a compassionate and life-affirming story that ultimately allows us to empathise with the awful situations humans sometimes find themselves in.

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 Chopper (2000)

We couldn’t put this list together without including this Australian classic. Andrew Dominik’s film is based on the memoirs of Australia’s most notorious criminal, the inimitable, terrifying and oddly charming Mark “Chopper” Read.

Inspired by Read’s time in the maximum security H Division of Pentridge Prison and his life as a loose cannon in Melbourne’s underworld wars, Chopper is a character study like no other. It is full of absurd exchanges and surreal episodes of ultra-violence, washed in lurid blues and flashes of police siren red.

The film captures Read’s bleak and satirical humour perfectly (“Jimmy, if you keep stabbing me, you’re going to kill me”) but never undersells the fact that Read was probably a psychopath. He was a very likeable psychopath, admittedly. It’s a disturbingly likeable film.

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I Love You Phillip Morris (2009)

I Love You Phillip Morris is the zany, incredible true life tale of con man Stephen Jay Russell, who escaped from prison on several occasions in an effort to be reunited with the love of his life, a fellow con named Phillip.

Jim Carey plays Russell at full tilt, bringing a kind of maniac zeal to the various episodes of his story, from the car crash that set him free as a homosexual man to the time he sprung his boyfriend from jail by posing as a lawyer, to the time he pretended to be dying of AIDS in prison to win his boyfriend over again.

Ewan McGregor is perfectly lovely as Phillip Morris, the very long-suffering love interest, and the deep and genuine affection between the characters is the heart of the film. Around that, Jim Carey orbits like a comic supernova, recounting the life of a man who was delightful, terrible and more than a little ridiculous.

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The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

Martin Scorsese has brought some extraordinary true stories to the screen, from Goodfellas to Raging Bull to Gangs Of New York, but none are as provocative and patently unbelievable as his 2013 opus The Wolf of Wall Street.

Leonardo DiCaprio plays Jordan Belfort, the self-made millionaire who lied, cheated and scammed his way into stock market legend. A tale of moral vacuity and near-psychedelic excess, The Wolf Of Wall Street is compelling for so many reasons: because Jordan is horrible, because he unstoppable, because he gets virtually everything he wants – drugs, women, private planes, high-performance cars, and enough money to build a bonfire and toast himself on the flames.

When Jordan’s downfall comes, it provides no relief, because this obscene scoundrel regrets nothing, except getting caught. He is gross, he is fascinating and he is all-too real, which in itself is kind of unbelievable.

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American Made (2017)

American Made is the true story of TWA pilot turned drug smuggler turned CIA operative Barry Seal (Tom Cruise), a cowboy of the skies and compadre of Pablo Escobar.

A gifted aviator, Seal spent nearly 20 years shuffling domestic travellers across America before finding more profitable employment as a drug runner for the Medillín Cartel.

Seal got caught and was staring down a hefty prison sentence when the DEA stepped in to cut a deal — Seal could avoid prison if he became a CIA informant, playing both sides in a wild and dangerous game that almost brought White House to its knees.

Cue guns, drugs and spectacular plane crashes in this hectic thrill ride through legit modern history. Some people get to have all the fun.

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Catch the outrageous true story of drug runner Barry Seal (played by Tom Cruise) in American Made, out in cinemas from August 24. Find out more here.

We’re also giving away tickets to preview screenings of American Made. Enter here!