Former Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor in Our Man in Tehran (First Run Features)

This 2013 documentary retells the real-life story of the six U.S. Embassy workers who sought refuge from the Canadian ambassador while their co-workers were taken hostage in Iran in 1979. This saga was depicted in Oscar-winning fashion by director/star Ben Affleck in his 2012 political thriller Argo, which dramatized their eventual successful escape and focused on the Central Intelligence Agency’s role in orchestrating their flight.

Argo played up the wildness of the CIA producing a fake science fiction movie, called “Argo,” as a pretext. The Americans were given counterfeit Canadian passports and new identities, but they and the Canadian ambassador, Ken Taylor, were secondary characters, while Affleck’s CIA agent, Tony Mendez; John Goodman; and Alan Arkin’s sleazy Hollywood producer characters were more central.

Argo’s core was in many ways about the toll that a workaholic agent’s life had on Mendez’s family. Its tense ending, where the Americans barely escape from the Tehran airport as Iranian officials finally discover who they really are, has been admitted to be entirely fictional, added on for dramatic purposes.

So what happens when you strip away the drama, the heightened reality, and downplay the CIA using a fake sci-fi film as a geopolitical ploy? You’re left with six people living fairly comfortably, though hidden and circumscribed, hosted by friendly Canadians. The film consists overwhelmingly of medium shots of the former guests and Ambassador Taylor and his family talking about what that period in their lives was really like. The Americans mostly played board games, drank wine, and had nice dinners and chats to while away the time. There’s a reason that Argo focused on the sci-fi, CIA, and Hollywood elements.

The documentary is not flashy and is about as traditional as can be. It gives off a somewhat off-putting air of wanting to instill respectable, proper historicity into this series of events. For those who are willing to stick it out, though, there are enough interesting insights into the time period and alternative viewpoints offered to make it worthwhile.

Taylor, Canadian to the core, expresses his initial hesitance to help the Americans, but ultimately decided it was the right course of action. He points out that the original idea was to have the houseguests pose as Canadian documentary filmmakers researching the true origin of the revolution. Taylor reasoned that the Iranians would be amenable to this effort by a neutral Western power to honestly depict the Iranian Revolution. Meanwhile, Canadian journalist Carole Jerome chalks the whole “Argo” sci-fi cover as typically American for taking on expensive, unnecessary risks for the machismo thrill of it all.

Our Man in Tehran is recommended for viewers keenly interested in the era and for researchers looking for new primary source material, especially the turbulent period leading to the fall of the shah of Iran.