Well crafted movie, highly fabricated story

Rating: 5/10 (30 January 2013)

***Update***
It seems even NPR can't resist the pressure of potential Oscar-dom and money. In their latest Argo story, CIA agent Mendez himself is interviewed and claims most of the story is "spot on". Naturally, I would trust the word of Mendez, since he can not tell a lie and likely has no conflict of interest in the success of the film.(/sarcasm) Practically everyone knows the Big Lie theory. Unfortunately, few people seem able to recognize its application.
*************
8 stars for craftsmanship averaged with 2 stars for historical accuracy equals 5 stars. The intro to this movie is most engaging and tends to convince viewers unswervingly from the start that this is a great film. If one investigates the history, however, almost every subsequent plot point is fabricated, apparently to maintain audience interest (for as many reviewers have commented, besides the plot and editing, this movie has little to offer in the way of writing, characters, acting, costumes, makeup, cinematography, etc.) During the credits, contrasting images of real characters and actors are presented that would lead one to believe great effort was made to tell the story faithfully. Don't be fooled. Contrary to what Mr. Afflect has said, the plot was more than tweaked a bit*. Good on NPR for calling him out on it. The salient facts in this case aren't classified, so what's the excuse for baldfaced lying to the audience?
*Examples of diversion from the truth: No excursion took place into the bazaar by the Americans. No secret photographs taken of the Americans. No shredded embassy photographs of the Americans. No sweatshop assembling shredded photographs of the Americans. The mission was never canceled, but President Carter did delay authorization for 30 minutes *before agent Mendez had even left for Iran*. Agent Mendez was in Iran for less than 36 hours and left the country separately, before the stranded Americans left. No phone call by Iranian guards to the studio. No problem with airline tickets. No confrontation at the airport. No (absurd) plane chase. Many people on the plane besides the American embassy workers cheered when the plane took off. Others have commented that the rescue effort was the brainchild of--and directed by--a Canadian, not agent Mendez.