Argo won Best Picture of the Year and after having watched it, I must say that I agree. I was on the edge of my seat for most of the entire movie. As far as the plot goes, I somewhat remember the Tehran hostage situation in 1979, but wasn’t aware that 6 of the diplomats had escaped the takeover of the American Embassy by Islamist students and militants. The movie is extremely suspenseful, right up until the very end. Ben Affleck plays the CIA agent, Tony Mendez, who flies to Iran to extract the six from the country,who are in hiding at the home of the Canadian ambassador when he arrives. Their cover story is that they are a Canadian film crew who were in Iran working on the sci-fi film Argo.
Since it was said to be based on a true story, rather than being a true story, Affleck, who directed the movie along with George Clooney, was able to take liberties with the script. The film does dramatize many events in the movie, i.e., the diplomats being in constant danger, when according to sources, this did not really happen. Nor did many scenes at the airport, in reality, they were not challenged at the gate since they had a 5:30am flight out and many of the Revolutionary Guards were not even present at that time of the morning.
But if you like your history spiced with drama, Argo is not to be missed.