A Very Misleading Movie - Garbage By Affleck

Rating: 3/10 (24 February 2013)

Here we go again. This time a really exciting true story has been dumbed down with mostly fabrications by Ben Affleck and his writers for reasons unknown.
Argo claims to be an accurate account of the evasion and escape of six American embassy staff from Iran. Tag lines for the movie Argo state "the movie was fake but the story is completely true." Nothing could be further from the truth. Argo is as fake as the movie cover story in the true story and, in fact, this movie cover story was concocted by the Canadians not the CIA.
Argo is mostly a complete fabrication of the events surrounding the evasion and escape of the six American Embassy employees from Iran and not only deters from the exciting true story (see Escape From Iran, the Canadian Caper) but does a tremendous disservice to the staff of the Canadian embassy, especially the late John Sheardown. Mr. Sheardown was the first Canadian the Americans contacted for asylum and he and his wife, Zena, actually did hide some of the American evaders in their home in Tehran for almost three months. Yet, the late Mr. Sheardown and his wife are not even mentioned in the movie, Argo. Also, the Canadian ambassador Ken Taylor and his wife were relegated to the role of mere overwrought, if not somewhat incompetent, bystanders. This is misleading in the extreme. Argo's original credits stated that the awards received by the Canadian Ambassador and his staff for their role in the evasion and escape were undeserved since it was a complete CIA operation. This is a lie. Ambassador Taylor called these postscript lines "disgraceful and insulting" and demeaning to the Canadians involved. This movie's claim that Canada was "allowed to take credit" for the operation because the escape plan was a secret CIA operation is also a misleading lie. Argo's claim that there was only some cursory help from the Canadians is a misleading fabrication.
U.S. President Jimmy Carter commented on the accuracy of the Argo story when he appeared on CNN recently (Thursday night, Feb 21, 2013). President Carter said: "90 per cent of the contributions to the ideas and the consummation of the plan was Canadian, but the film gives almost full credit of the plan to the American CIA." Also, in a recent address to Queen's University, President Carter called "Argo" a complete distortion of what happened. He stated: "I saw the movie Argo recently and I was taken back by its distortion of what happened because almost everything that was heroic, or courageous or innovative was done by Canada and not the United States." Argo's claim that it was a completely a CIA operation is untrue and an insult to the Canadians who helped the Americans to evade capture and escape from Iran. The Canadian exit visas and passports issued to the Americans were forgeries made on authentic documents and passports that were supplied by the Canadian government not the CIA. In truth, the CIA agent was actually in Iran for less then 36 hours and he was not even at the airport when the Americans exited Iran. It was the Canadian Ambassador, his wife, and his staff who smuggled the Americans through Iranian controls and checkpoints and onto the departing flight at Tehran airport.
Ben Affleck must apologize to The Canadian Ambassador; the ambassador's wife; the late John Sheardown's widow, Zena Sheardown; and all the other Canadian Embassy staff members who made the escape of the six Americans from Iran possible. Also, Mr. Affleck should then apologize to all Canadians. I was going to say Argo-f**k yourself to Mr. Affleck but why bother.
From a technical point, the cinematography is very good and with several exceptions, the cast was adequate. However, Argo's script is something you should not put aside lightly, it should be thrown with great force.
This story needs to be remade, perhaps using the script from "Escape From Iran - The Canadian Caper" and not turned into some mindless drivel that is represented by the movie Argo. The true story of the evasion and escape of the six Americans from Iran is so exciting and full of tension that it would definitely keep you on the edge of your seat, unlike Argo which is full of something else.
3/10 stars for the cinematography only.