Iran scoffs at Oscar-winning Argo, photoshops Michelle Obama's dress

IRANIAN censors have photoshopped Michelle Obama's Oscars dress as they dismissed Best Picture winner Argo as CIA propaganda.

IRANIAN censors have photoshopped Michelle Obama's Oscars dress as they dismissed Best Picture winner Argo as CIA propaganda.

News agency Fars, which is affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, deemed Mrs Obama's glittering smoke grey Naeem Khan ballgown a little too racy.

The agency photoshopped the first lady's dress so that it covered her chest and shoulders.

Doctoring of pictures is not uncommon in Iran. State rules say Iranian women on television should wear a hijab and have their hair, arms and legs covered, and censors often have to resort to photoshop to tone down the appearance of foreigners.

The US first lady announced the Oscar for Best Picture in an unprecedented satellite appearance from the White House.

But Iran's state television was quick to dismiss Argo as an "advertisement for the CIA" and some Iranians called the award a political statement by America for its unflattering portrayal of the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

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State television also said Mrs Obama's involvement "increases speculation that awarding this movie was politically motivated".

Fars branded Argo as an "anti-Iran movie" financed by a "Zionist company" - in a reference to the California-based Warner Bros. which produced it.

And while Argo has not appeared in any Iranian cinema, there has been no shortage of buzz from those who saw the movie through bootleg DVD networks.

The discussions over Argo in Iran have often pried open a generational divide: Iranians who took part in the 1979 Islamic Revolution picking apart the portrayals of Tehran during the time, and Iranians too young to recall the events getting a different view of the upheavals.

"I want to know what the other side is saying," said Shieda, a 21-year-old University of Tehran student, who gave only her first name to avoid the possible backlash from speaking with foreign media.

Argo Ben Affleck

Tehran City Council member Masoomeh Ebtekar - who was one of the students who occupied the US Embassy, and acted as the Iranian students' spokeswoman - says the film exaggerates the violence among crowds that stormed the compound in November 1979.

Fifty-two Americans were held hostage for 444 days, but a handful of embassy staff were sheltered by the Canadian ambassador. Their escape, using a fake movie as a cover story, is recounted in Argo.

Ms Ebtekbar insists the hostage-takers were mostly students, but other accounts suggest militants and members of the Revolutionary Guard were closely involved in the crisis.

Actor-director Ben Affleck "goes and shows scenes of a very violent and very angry mob throughout the film," Ebtekbar said. "It is never mentioned that these are a group of students."

The semiofficial Mehr news agency called the Oscar "politically motivated" because first lady Michelle Obama, from the White House, joined Jack Nicholson via video link in Los Angeles to help present the best picture prize.

Iran's state TV called the movie "an advertisement for the CIA".

Iran's culture minister, Mohammad Hosseini, said Hollywood has "distorted history" as part of what Iranian officials call a "soft war" of cultural influence in Iran.

But retired teacher, Reza Abbasi, who saw the Revolution first-hand, said: "I know Hollywood usually changes reality to make it attractive for movie lovers, but more or less it was close to the realities then."

Others say Argo also shows the need for Iranian filmmakers to deal more with issues from the Revolution.