Tense, fast moving, exciting, historically flawed.

Rating: 8/10 (3 November 2012)

This is a fine film but I give it only eight stars because of its unnecessary denigration of the roles of some of our most loyal allies. With George Clooney as a producer, it's not surprising to get some of his trademark moralizing about the Middle East, although any sympathy I might have felt for Mohammed Mossadegh and the victims of SAVAK rapidly evaporated upon being reminded afresh just what the Iranian Revolution was really like. I didn't expect so much humor, but the dialogue in Hollywood as Tony Mendez tries to set up his bogus film company is often hilarious. The tension during the escape is heightened for effect: in reality there was no visit to the bazaar, no problem with tickets and no attempt to stop the flight. In the film, one of the six diplomats is an annoying, fearful twerp who becomes a hero when he talks the group through their final checkpoint. Most serious is the slander of the British and New Zealanders, who actually were helpful. The British even housed the six for a while but had them move because their location was unsafe. The Canadians were actually principally responsible for the escape and worked closely with Mendez on the cover story and furnishing documents. I can't see a single cinematic reason for those errors.