Many Hollywood films like 'Argo' though are not screened in cinemas in Iran but pirated copies of almost all newly released movies are sold under-the-counter in shops or by vendors on streets.

 

　　Film enthusiast Amir Saman watches all Hollywood movies, but he says Argo has failed to impress in its portrayal of Iran

 

　　"If a person my age watches this anywhere in this world he or she would think that we are people who beat and kill. Some scenes in this movie show people are killed on the streets. I think it is too exaggerated."

 

　　Fifty American hostages were held from November 1979 until January 1981 after a group of students who supported the Iranian Revolution took over the US embassy.

 

　　Dr Masoomeh Ebtekar was one of the student spokespeople during the US embassy takeover. As a reformist member of Tehran City Council now, Ebtekar says the film does not tell the story of the takeover as it actually happened.

 

　　"The group who took over the American embassy were a group of young, very orderly, quite calm in a sense, group of both men and women. There was no commotion, violence or you don't see - the scenes that you see in 'Argo' are totally incorrect. And it is quite surprising because that footage exists. If Ben Affleck wanted to make a movie out of the reality, depicting the reality of what happened, he should have at least used some parts of the actual historical event, the footage which exists. But they didn't do that. He goes and chose the scene of very violent and very angry mob. And throughout the film it is never mentioned that these are a group of students."

 

　　She says initially she thought the film would be a balanced representation of events but that didn't last.

 

　　"At the beginning, initially when I saw those scenes I thought ok, they are making an attempt to portray the Iranian side, the Iranian picture, and they want to give a balanced image. They are trying to give the sense that this film is going to be objective and it is not going to be biased. But that didn't continue."

 

　　Ali Moallem, a distinguished Iranian film critic, says he was not impressed by the film either.

 

　　"'Argo' is at most an average and mediocre movie by the American film industry. I think even Ben Affleck himself didn't ever believe his movie would be able to compete with top movies like 'Lincoln' or Kathryn Bigelow's film (Zero Dark Thirty) or 'Life of Pi'."

 

　　Local resident and film fan Mohammad Amin Sharifi says he thinks 'Argo' is good but not great.

 

　　"In my opinion, it (Argo) was a nice movie from technical aspect and was in the scale of Hollywood movies. But I don't think it was worth nominating for an Oscar or other awards."

 

　　'Argo' has emerged as the best-picture favorite for the Oscar awards after sweeping top prizes at earlier film honors, including the BAFTAS, the Golden Globes and awards from the Directors Guild of America, the Screen Actors Guild and the Producers Guild of America.

 

　　For CRI, I'm Wang Wei.