I’m fine with artistic license being taken with ancient history, particularly because much of what he know as history is derived from folklore, which, honestly, may not be all that accurate itself. Something like Netflix’s Marco Polo series is fine because Marco Polo is a much a figure of myth as he was a real person. There is some debate among historians about the veracity of the account of his travels (keep in mind that Polo himself did not write his accounts, someone else did based, supposedly, on what Marco had told him). The series Marco Polo is severely fictionalized, but that’s ok because the Travels of Marco Polo is probably (to some degree or another) fictionalized as well.
For more recent history, especially with figures still living, I think there is, or ought to be, more of a responsibility to adhere to the truth as far as possible. I especially detest when history is distorted to fit some contrived Hollywood plot formula. In the film Seven Years in Tibet (in keeping with the oriental theme) much is made in the story of Heinrich Harrer’s marriage falling apart because his ego drove him to go climb a mountain rather than remain at home with his family. In reality Harrer and his wife were divorced long before he ever set off on his Himalayan expedition. That is, perhaps, a small issue, but it’s an example of Hollywood fluff.
A more egregious example is the film’s treatment of Ngawang Jigme. In the film Jigme is depicted as a coward who sells his country and people out to gain favor with the Chinese. In real life Jigme surrendered because he knew that the small, untrained and outdated (many being armed with only spears, a few had ball-and-powder muskets) Tibetan forces had no hope in Hell against the large, modern and mechanized Chinese army. He surrendered to avoid the pointless slaughter of those under his command. And the impression I get of the real life Jigma is one of a man led by a genuine desire to work from within the Chinese government for the benefit of his people rather than out of personal ambition. But this is distorted because Hollywood demands convenient heroes and villains.