Argo, the new movie - Review by Sandy Trehy

Argo, the new movie from actor-director Ben Affleck, I’m sure will be getting great reviews, and I for one also thought it was good. The audience in the theater I was in clapped and cheered at the end as the credits rolled.

I vividly remember that from Nov 4, 1979 through it’s conclusion when the hostages were released on January 20, 1981, the news was always about the hostages in our Embassy in Iran.  It was an awful time, and each day was ticked off until on day 444 they were brought home.  This movie is “based on the true story” of six U. S. Embassy staff members who made it out of the embassy without being captured, and the efforts of those who were to help them make it to safety.  So spoiling the ending is not an issue here… but asking those who see it to do a little fact checking is.  Whether you fact check before or after the movie, please just do it.

As I said, I really liked this movie… but, why can’t they make a movie without distorting the facts? This was a larger than life real story… And obviously making the ending an “edge of your seat” experience was more entertaining then the “smooth as silk” ex-filtration that it was…  But why not give credit where credit is due?   From what I can learn, the Carter administration did not pull the plug on the operation at the last minute… And the Canadians were the real heroes jeopardizing their lives and masterminding and implementing most of the operations to get our citizens to safety.   If we can get all excited following the role of “007” as a British spy, why wouldn’t that work for a movie about our neighbors to the north?  After viewing the movie last night, I feel like it would have been a great story on it’s own without the hollywood enhancements. 

Enjoy the movie… and thanks Canada.