Iranian Director Asghar Farhadi Criticizes Hollywood, Calls U.S. Democracy a 'Lie'
Filmmaker Asghar Farhadi, promoting his film 'Parallel Tales,' argued that Hollywood's portrayals of foreign countries are inaccurate and that American democracy is a facade.
Oscar-winning Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi has sharply criticized Hollywood's portrayal of Iran and other foreign nations, asserting that the United States' claim to democracy is fundamentally untrue. Speaking at the Rio Film Festival in Brazil on Friday while promoting his film "Parallel Tales," Farhadi addressed questions about the film "Argo," which won Best Picture at the Academy Awards shortly after his own film "A Separation" received the Best Foreign Language Film award.
"Argo," directed by Ben Affleck, depicted a CIA operative's mission to rescue American diplomats from Iran by posing as a Hollywood film crew. Farhadi described "Argo" as a "Hollywood thing," suggesting its narrative of a "White guy" saving others lacked depth, despite the real-life operative's actual heritage. Farhadi stated that such films are primarily driven by profit and perpetuate a recurring trope of Americans intervening to save others. "My question is: Why? Why does an American go to Cuba or Iran to save people? People understand they can save themselves. Who asked you to come and save us?" he remarked.
Farhadi further contended that "Argo," which is set in the aftermath of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, depicted Iran in a negative and unrealistic light. "The problem with these kinds of films in Hollywood [and] some people in the United States [is that] they look at the world from up to down," Farhadi said. "Someday you should ask them: Why do you feel you’re up and we’re down? I don’t understand why they have this ego that they’re up."
He directly challenged the notion of American democracy, suggesting that "the real America" could be found among incarcerated individuals or within minority communities. "You don’t have democracy. It’s a lie," Farhadi declared.
In response to Farhadi's comments, Media Research Center President David Bozell told Fox News Digital, "America was asked to save the world, and we did, not once, but twice. And we’re always preparing to do it again, if we’re asked to, at a moment’s notice. Maybe Hollywood makes movies about Americans saving the world for a reason."
Representatives for Farhadi and Affleck did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Fox News Digital.