Use "Fatos verídicos" (or "fatos reais") is redundant?

Question

When we are talking about some book or movie it's very common to see the following statements:

"Esse filme é baseado em fatos reais.";

"O livro foi feito com base em fatos verídicos.";

My question is: Is it redundant?

I already saw some arguments saying that a "fato"(fact) is always real, but I think that we can use "fato fictício" or something, so "fatos reais" is not redundant to me.

Am I wrong?

There are also fatos surreais. Is this a pleonasmo? Repetitions are frequently used to highlight a specific idea in several languages (real fact vs true facts. — Armfoot, Jan 07 '16 at 16:18
@Centaurus no, because fato is a suit on pt_PT: Com o Acordo Ortográfico, escreve-se facto ou fato? — Jorge B., Jan 08 '16 at 01:54
Fact is like Event ... This is a event from chapter 46 of Harry Potter book... Harry Potter is not real :) — Chigurh, Jan 08 '16 at 01:56
@Centaurus like Jorge points with the link, no, because we pronounce its c. We have fato (terno) and facto (fato), like we have adição (soma) and adicção (dependência física, vício). — ANeves, Jan 08 '16 at 17:07
@ANeves I see. I know "fato" means "terno" in Portugal, and "guarda-fatos" means armário. What I didn't know was the word "adicção" (perhaps from the English "addiction") means "vício", "dependência física". — Centaurus, Jan 08 '16 at 22:09
It's not common, here, either. I think it might be exclusively a medical term. — ANeves, Jan 10 '16 at 19:01

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 08 '16 at 01:05

1

Although there may be some redundancy, depending on how you define "fatos", "baseado em fatos reais" is a set phrase and means the same as "baseado em fatos verídicos". It's current usage and nobody stops to think whether it's redundant or not.

answered Jan 08 '16 at 01:05

Centaurus

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score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 08 '16 at 11:26

It depends on the meaning you are using for fa(c)to:

fac·to |ct|

(latim factum, -i, aquilo que se fez, façanha, proeza, acto) substantivo masculino

Coisa realizada. = ACTO, FEITO

Acontecimento.

Sucesso.

Assunto (de que se trata).

Lance.

"facto", in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa [em linha], 2008-2013, http://www.priberam.pt/dlpo/facto [consultado em 08-01-2016].

If you add real to those definitions, only the first turns to look redundant: coisa realizada real.

Use "Fatos verídicos" (or "fatos reais") is redundant?

2 Answers2