The movie “Argo” was CIA propaganda vehicle in the guise of an entertaining Hollywood entertainment. It was base on the real life exploits of Tony Mendez, a CIA officer who mastered the art of disguise.
Mendez, who died recently, is being lionized in the press.
Appropriately for a man whose career seemed drawn from a Hollywood thriller, his greatest triumph hinged on a bogus sci-fi film, a sham production office in Los Angeles and a fake location-scouting expedition to Iran. Disguising himself as an Irish filmmaker, Mr. Mendez successfully smuggled six State Department employees out of Tehran during the 1979-1981 Iran hostage crisis, passing them off as a Canadian movie crew in a daring mission that formed the basis of the Oscar-winning movie “Argo” (2012).
For anybody who didn’t know the history of CIA in Iran–which the vast majority of Americans–you would leave the movie theater thinking the Americans were the good guys who had to be rescued from the torments of crazed Iranians.
For the majority of Iranians, who know full well that the CIA destroyed their democracy with a psychological warfare coup in 1953, “Argo” was seen as the vehicle of American propaganda. And indeed, the CIA provided much technical assistance.
In the Atlantic, Nick Schou reported the story of the “hugely popular, if factually challenged” film.
Argo took many liberties with the truth, all of them geared to make Langley and Hollywood appear more heroic. For example, the significant role played by the Canadian embassy in helping the hostages escape was left out for storytelling purposes. And despite the film’s dramatic conclusion, there were no gun-toting Iranian Revolutionary Guardsmen racing in jeeps down the runway after a jet plane full of fleeing Americans. But the movie won over audiences with its entertaining tale of a real-life Mission Impossible-style caper, while featuring the CIA in the most glowing light possible. In fact, Argo—which won three Academy Awards including Best Picture, and reaped over $230 million at the box office— arguably ranks as the agency’s most successful propaganda coup in Hollywood. .
Which is one of the reasons we remember Tony Mendez, RIP.
