The PBS piece about the movie (or perhaps it was the bbc... it was ON pbs at any rate) right before the oscars actually did a pretty good job on that point - they went to the areas where the movie was set and were like "hey, look! Not faked! Is really like this!"

(Now I think about it, it must have been the bbc. The reporter had that dry British 'you people are all MORONS if you think this is romantic' tone to his voice.)