Argo

I watched Argo this past weekend and loved it. An exciting political thriller played out almost like a heist movie, the story follows the CIA's attempt at extracting six hostages from Iran. As I watched, I thought to myself "Wow! This is incredible! I can't believe this actually happened!"

Well, to a degree, it did not. The Canadian government actually helped out far more than the movie lets on, scouting out the airport in advance, purchasing the tickets, coaching them on Canadian accents, and more. Not to say that the actual Argo rescue was all fun and games, but writer Chris Terrio puts the movie's protagonist through many late-game trials that may or may not have happened in real life.

Why change the truth? My screenwriting professor had a saying that he said we should always ask ourselves when we write scripts: "How can this get worse?" Very simple. This adds more conflict and more excitement for the audience, and generally makes for a better script.

Argo is a perfect example of this concept in effect, providing a nail-biting thrill ride where the viewer honestly starts questioning what will happen despite knowing the end result. The changes made did not affect the message of the film, and instead made it much more enjoyable for the wider audience (at the expense of absolutely historical accuracy).

Also, this is a funny spoof of the ending -  WARNING: SPOILERS