Iran dismisses "Argo" best picture Oscar

Actor/producer/director Ben Affleck accepts best picture award for "Argo" onstage, along with cast and crew members during Oscars presentations at Dolby Theatre on Feb. 24, 2013, in Hollywood, Calif. / Getty

TEHRAN, Iran Iran's state TV dismissed the Oscar-winning film "Argo" on Monday as an "advertisement for the CIA" and some Iranians called the award a political statement by America for its unflattering portrayal of the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

And while "Argo" has not appeared in any Iranian cinema, there has been no shortage of buzz from those who saw the movie through bootleg DVD networks.

The discussions over "Argo" in Iran have often pried open a generational divide: Iranians who took part in the 1979 Islamic Revolution picking apart the portrayals of Tehran during the time, and Iranians too young to recall the events getting a different view of the upheavals.

"I want to know what the other side is saying," said Shieda, a 21-year-old University of Tehran student, who gave only her first name to avoid possible backlash for speaking with foreign media.

• Oscars 2013: "Argo" wins best picture
• Michelle Obama makes surprise Oscars appearance
• Oscars 2013: List of winners

Tehran City Council member Masoomeh Ebtekar, who was one of the students who occupied the U.S. Embassy and acted as the Iranian students' spokeswoman, says the film exaggerates the violence among crowds that stormed the compound in November 1979.

67 Photos

Oscars 2013: Red carpet

Fifty-two Americans were held hostage for 444 days, but a handful of embassy staffers were sheltered by the Canadian ambassador. Their escape, using a fake movie as a cover story, is recounted in "Argo."

Ebtekbar insists the hostage-takers were mostly students, but other accounts suggest militants and members of the Revolutionary Guard were closely involved in the crisis.

Actor-director Ben Affleck "goes and shows scenes of a very violent and very angry mob throughout the film," Ebtekbar said. "It is never mentioned that these are a group of students."

The semiofficial Mehr news agency called the Oscar "politically motivated" because first lady Michelle Obama, from the White House, joined Jack Nicholson via video link in Los Angeles to help present the best picture prize.

51 Photos

Oscars 2013: Show highlights

Iran's state TV called the movie "an advertisement for the CIA."

Iran's culture minister, Mohammad Hosseini, said Hollywood has "distorted history" as part of what Iranian officials call a "soft war" of cultural influence in Iran.

But retired teacher Reza Abbasi, who saw the Revolution first-hand, said, "I know Hollywood usually changes reality to make it attractive for movie lovers, but more or less it was close to the realities then."

Others say "Argo" also shows the need for Iranian filmmakers to deal more with issues from the Revolution.

15 Photos

Oscars 2013: Press room

The moderate Hamshahri newspaper said the movie "targeted the culture and civilization of Iran," but is worthwhile for Iranians to see a different perspective of the events that led to the collapse of relations between the U.S. and Iran.

"Iranian audiences are seeing a new version of the events for the first time," said a commentary in the newspaper. "This has been a weak point for our TV and cinema industry, which has not produced anything about the (US Embassy storming) after more than three decades."

In downtown Tehran, bootleg DVDs of "Argo" sell for about 30,000 rials, or less than $1.

Iran's state-run film industry boycotted this year's Oscars in the wake of a U.S.-made Internet video clip that denigrated the Prophet Muhammad and set off protests across the Muslim world.

In February 2012, Iranian director Asghar Farhadi won the 2012 Oscar for best foreign film for "A Separation" -- the first such prize for Iran. A month earlier, Iranian authorities ordered the closure of the House of Cinema, an independent film group that had operated for 20 years and counted Iran's top filmmakers, including Farhadi, among its members.

"In my opinion, it's a nice movie from technical aspects and it was on the scale of Hollywood movies, but I don't think it was worth a nomination for Oscar and other awards," said Mohammad Amin Sharifi, a movie fan in Tehran.

[Really_Really_Really]

Next story please...

[Louis_Chez]

Iran's state-run film industry boycotted this year's Oscars in the wake of a U.S.-made Internet video clip that denigrated the Prophet Muhammad and set off protests across the Muslim world.

_________________________________________

This is irresponsible reporting. The short comical satire, "The Innocence of Muslims" outed the gay pedophile Muhammad, also known as the beloved prophet, for the murderous criminal that he was.

But it was not a USA-made movie. It was a movie made by one free American and was not in any way supported by the U.S. government!

[quincytodd]

Another stupid comment from another dimwitted Tea Partier!

[Louis_Chez]

So, Quincy, you see the short film as a U.S.A. supported project?

So that must mean you supported obama's apology tour as well?

Just another moronic opinion from a stupid liberal Democrat!

[Krowster]

Nothing like watching the rich and famous, award the rich and famous. Frankly, who cares who wins an Oscar that will eventually wind up in some closet.

[GeneralJDavis]

Of course Argo is CIA propaganda. CIA created the situation to begin with by overthrowing Iran's democracy and installing a dictator. The hostage situation was blowback, so mythologizing the extraction of a few operatives when no hostages were killed anyway, is the mark of a corrupt film industry and a weak minded population.

[qyeteye]

No. It is simply showing and telling a story "based" on an event that occurred in reality. There was enough intrigue to make it worth while to tell. Happens all the time.

The Shah was "installed" by USA as you say - but obviously was not well regarded many if not the majority of his own people. Something about brutality and prisons. You know how that goes. Happens all the time.

[sickofwhiners]

And this is a new story because......... An irrelevant statement by irrelevant people about an irrelevant piece of entertainment.

[Rafterman11]

"Students" my azzz. A lot of those supposed "students" were in their 30s, 40s and 50s. LOL.