Film Argo Bikin Gusar Diplomat Inggris
Film Argo Upsets British Diplomats
Editor : Mohamad Aslan
DIPLOMAT Inggris mengambil risiko membantu diplomat Amerika yang diburu dalam revolusi Islam di Iran, tapi film Ben Affleck berjudul ´Argo´ mengungkap fakta berbeda sehingga mengundang kemarahan diplomat Inggris.
Film ini digambarkan sebagai salah satu film terbaik untuk tahun baru dan disebut-sebut berpotensi memberi Oscar bagi Ben Affleck, yang menjadi pemeran utama sekaligus sutradara.
Film Hollywood berbiaya US$44 juta berjudul ´Argo´ menceritakan kisah yang luar biasa tentang bagaimana enam diplomat Amerika yang diselundupkan keluar dari Iran pada puncak Revolusi Islam pada 1979.
Para pejabat nyaris ditangkap ketika kelompok militan Iran menyerbu komplek Kedutaan Besar AS dan menahan 52 sandera dari staf kedutaan sehingga memicu krisis internasional yang berlangsung selama 14 bulan.
Namun di balik versi Hollywood disebutkan tentang enam pejabat AS bersembunyi di rumah duta besar Kanada sementara CIA menyiapkan pernyataan melarikan diri, akurasi sejarah yang membuat marah para diplomat Inggris yang berada di Teheran pada saat itu.
Enam diplomat Amerika sebelumnya telah diberi perlindungan ketika mereka mendadak muncul di komplek Kedutaan Besar Inggris di utara Teheran, yang telah putus asa menghadapi perlawanan anti-Barat dari massa yang berkeliaran di jalan-jalan Teheran.
Sang sutradara, Ben Affleck mengklaim penggambaran di film ´sebagai yang terbaik, faktual."
Namun Sir John Graham, 86, duta besar Inggris untuk Iran saat itu mengatakan: "Ini bukanlah fakta bahwa mereka berpaling dari Kedutaan Besar Inggris. Kami berusaha membantu mereka saat itu," seperti dikutip The Telegraph.
"Reaksi pertama saya mendengar ini membuat saya marah. Namun saya sangat sedih bahwa pembuat film begitu teledor. Keprihatinan saya adalah tidak perlu memasukkan mitologi dari peristiwa di Teheran pada November 1979."
Arthur Wyatt, 83, yang saat itu menjabat British charge d´affaires di Teheran menyatakan: "Rekor Hollywood dalam hal ini tentu kurang akurat yang membuat saya kecewa bagaimana kita (Inggris) digambarkan."
Caption (arah jarum jam)
1. Presiden AS Jimmy Carter dengan enam orang Amerika yang diam-diam keluar dari Iran oleh Kedutaan Besar Kanada. (Daily Mail)
2. Mahasiswa Iran memanjat dinding Kedutaan AS di Teheran, 4 November 1979. (Daily Mail)
3. Sir John Graham, Duta Besar Inggris untuk Iran saat krisis sandera Amerika. (Daily Mail)
4. Ben Affleck (kanan) - Daily Mail
BRITISH diplomats took risks to help Americans being hunted in revolutionary Iran, but Ben Affleck´s new film Argo tells a very different story - to the anger of British diplomats.
It´s been been described as one of the best new films of the year and has already been tipped as a potential Oscar winner for Ben Affleck, who is both its star and its director.
The $44 million Hollywood movie Argo tells the extraordinary story of how six American diplomats were smuggled out of Iran at the height of the 1979 Islamic revolution.
The officials had narrowly avoided being among those captured when Iranian militants invaded the US embassy compound and took 52 other American staff hostage, sparking an international crisis that was to last for 14 months.
But behind the Hollywood version of how the six State Department officials hid out at the Canadian ambassador´s home while the CIA prepared the daring escape plan lie questions of historical accuracy that have infuriated British diplomats who were in Tehran at the time.
The six American diplomats had earlier been given sanctuary when they turned up unexpectedly at the British embassy´s summer compound in northern Tehran, desperately seeking shelter from the anti-Western mobs roaming the volatile city.
The film´s director, Ben Affleck, claims to have depicted it "as best I can, factually".
But Sir John Graham, 86, who was Britain´s ambassador to Iran at the time, said: "It is not the truth that they were turned away from the British Embassy. We gave them all help at the time," as quoted The Telegraph.
"My immediate reaction on hearing about this was one of outrage. I have since simmered down, but am still very distressed that the film-makers should have got it so wrong. My concern is that the inaccurate account should not enter the mythology of the events in Tehran in November 1979."
Arthur Wyatt, 83, who was then the British charge d´affaires in Tehran, said: "Hollywood´s record in this is certainly lacking in many cases. I´m disappointed to hear how we have been portrayed.
Caption (clockwise)
1 . President Jimmy Carter with the six Americans who where spirited out of Iran by the Canadian Embassy.
2. Iranian Students Climb over the wall of the US embassy in Tehran 4 November 1979.
3 .Sir John Graham, who was British Ambassador to Iran at the time of the American hostage crisis.
4. Ben Affleck (right)
