In 1979, the American embassy in Iran was invaded by
Iranian revolutionaries and several Americans are taken hostage. However, six
manage to escape to the official residence of the Canadian Ambassador and the
CIA is eventually ordered to get them out of the country. With few options,
exfiltration expert Tony Mendez devises a daring plan: to create a phony
Canadian film project looking to shoot in Iran and smuggle the Americans out as
its production crew. With the help of some trusted Hollywood contacts, Mendez
creates the ruse and proceeds to Iran as its associate producer. However, time
is running out with the Iranian security forces closing in on the truth while
both his charges and the White House have grave doubts about the operation
themselves. (© IMDb)
The story is a dramatization of the 1980 joint
CIA-Canadian secret operation, and this one is the best example of a situation
when the real life story is much richer and much more fascinating than what
film plots can offer you. And having the story ready to use, the suspense is
the king. It is extremely easy to fall into the trap of retelling the story
rather than giving an interesting spin to it, leading to a boring and difficult-to-watch-without-falling
asleep kind of film.
