10 Films With Glaring Historical Inaccuracies

Following the thrilling account of refugees from the US embassy in Tehran as they - with the help of the CIA - escaped from revolutionary Iran under the guise of a film crew. The real Argo was considerably less exciting, and a lot more Canadian.

In a CNN interview, former US president Jimmy Carter stated that, in contrast to the glorified portrayal of the CIA, "90% of the contributions to the ideas and the plan were Canadian.” In fact, the Canadian involvement was such that the entire event was named "the Canadian Caper."

Additionally, Argo changed the actions of other embassies, or outright ignored them, particularly the British and New Zealanders. The British embassy did not, as was portrayed in Argo, turn away the refugees. Instead, the British temporarily hosted them at great risk to themselves, only transferring the fugitives to the Canadians because mobs were threatening the British embassy itself. The New Zealand embassy offered to take in the fugitives should they ever need to escape from the Canadian embassy.

Argo gets most of the plan itself correct. Ben Affleck's character, Tony Mendez, was the focal point of the CIA operation to extract the fugitives, using an elaborate backstory of a film production. An office was established in Hollywood, and advertisements for Argo were placed in newspapers (one of which was carried by one of the fugitives as part of her cover). But that's about the extent of the film's accuracy.

And in contrast with the incredible, tense finale, the fugitives easily made their way through Tehran's Mehrabad International Airport, and escaped to Switzerland.