Argo is Full of Fabricated Scenes
(FNA)- Kenneth Douglas Taylor, the former Canadian ambassador to Iran, who was portrayed as hero in Ben Affleck's anti-Iran movie, Argo, stated that the film's Oscar-nominated screenwriter "had no idea what he's talking about".
On November 4, 1979, Iranian university students took over the US embassy building (which later came to be known as the US spy den) to thwart Washington's plots against the Islamic Revolution. Inside the embassy, the students found shredded documents which proved their convictions.
Since then, Iranians have celebrated the Nov. 4 takeover of the embassy, when 52 Americans were held hostage for 444 days.
But, the newly produced and staged movie, Argo, a 2012 American thriller film directed by Ben Affleck, shows Tony Mendez, a CIA operative, led the rescue of six US diplomats from Tehran. The US and Canadian officials stress that the story is true.
The film shows Militants storm the US embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979, in retaliation for the nation's sheltering the recently deposed Shah. More than 50 of the embassy staff are taken as hostages, but six escape and hide in the home of the Canadian ambassador.
For more than 30 years, Taylor has been celebrated as the hero who sheltered six US diplomats at the Canadian embassy in Iran and then helped get them out of the country on fake passports.
Canada's former Ambassador to Iran Ken Taylor took sly jabs at the Ben Affleck-directed box office hit during a talk with Ryerson University students on Thursday.
He took issue with a myriad of creative liberties that included the "black and white" portrayal of Iranian people, fabricated scenes and the suggestion he was little more than a meek observer to CIA heroics.
While recognizing that Argo's primary goal was entertainment, Taylor says an upcoming documentary will present a more balanced picture of his role and the situation in Iran.
"After I saw the movie I decided that I did bring one particular skill to this movie: That was opening and closing a door," Taylor said to laughs, referring to the relatively small role he seemed to play, as portrayed by Canadian actor Victor Garber.
"We could go on but the amusing side is the script writer in Hollywood had no idea what he's talking about."
Taylor pointed to a scene toward the end in which he's asked what he will do as escapees head to the airport. The movie version of himself responds that he'll leave by train in half an hour.
"A train hasn't left Tehran station for anywhere for three years," he noted.
Screenwriter Chris Terrio is up for a best adapted screenplay Oscar.
Nonetheless jovial and full of compliments for the film's sheer entertainment value, Taylor's comments were offered alongside a more critical Robert Wright, author of "Our Man in Tehran: Ken Taylor and the Iran Hostage Crisis."
"Argo" has swept recent awards bashes and heads into the Oscars later this month as a front-runner in the race for best picture.
Affleck directs and also stars as CIA agent Tony Mendez, who teams up with a Hollywood producer (Alan Arkin) to disguise the six US citizens as a Canadian film crew working on a fake science-fiction film called "Argo."'
Taylor said the film does little to dissuade notions that Iran is "one long revolution and riot," noting that "it characterizes people in a way that isn't quite right."
He said he spent almost three years in Tehran and never felt in jeopardy, describing Iranian hospitality as "warm and genuine."
"The movie maybe didn't give a chance that there's another side to Iranian society which is unfortunate - that is a more conventional side, a more hospitable side and an intent that they were looking for some degree of justice and hope and that it all wasn't just a violent demonstration for nothing," he said.