I know you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover but I have to confess that if I’d known a little more about the film I watched last night, I probably would have thought nope, not for me!
A film starring and directed by Ben Affleck? And George Clooney? Urgh! About the Iranian hostage crisis in late 70s/early 80s. Double urgh, stars and stripes waving??
To my dismay (and enjoyment) it was really good. There is so much rubbish out at the moment and if you’ve already seen Skyfall, then I would recommend this flick. Set in Iran in the late 70s it covers the period when the Shah was overturned by her people and the Ayatollah took control. The film starts by sensitively approaching the subject with a very brief history of Iran’s politics.
(Ben? Is that really you? I always though you were awful but you suit the beard and hair!!)
We cut to the late 70s, hurt and traumatised by what the Shah’s reign had brought, it incensed the Iranians that the Americans had given him sanctuary to stay in the US to live out his last years. The Iranians demonstrated outside the US Embassy. It became increasingly violent and they took 50 Americans hostage whom the Iranians believed to be spies (the film alludes to the fact that this was certainly true of some of them). The Ayatollah demanded the Shah to be returned to Iran to face punishment for his crime. 50 Americans for 1 Shah.
This film, however, is about 6 Americans who sneaked out the back exit during the rampage. No-one (including the Brits) would take them in, but the Canadian Ambassador did. How can these 6 Americans leave the country? No Americans were allowed in or out of Iran. It was only a matter of time until the Iranians realised they were missing and it would not take them long to find them. The Canadian ambassador and his wife would also be murdered.
Ben Afleck is the CIA agent that tries. This is a true story and if you ever wondered whether truth is more stranger than fiction, this film goes some way to proving it. The CIA hatch a plan that the 6 Americans are actually Canadians and are in Iran to scope out whether it fits the scene to make a science fiction movie, a la Star Wars, Planet of the Apes. I won’t spoil the rest – enjoy!
Bubbly
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