MovieChat Forums > Argo (2012) Discussion > Question about the airport guard at the ...

Question about the airport guard at the end


So the group is stopped by the guard and he asks them questions in Farsi. He brings them in a separate room to question them and the one American communicates that they're looking for filming locations. Ben Affleck's character hands the guard the business card of the "producer" or the studios.

Here's my question--during the whole time the guard is interrogating the Americans, he is speaking in Farsi....so why does he magically speak English on the phone when the call is answered by John Goodman's character?

Second, how did the guard know the "American" way of asking for someone? There are certainly cultural differences in most countries on how one calls someone--like in some countries you identify yourself first. So how did the guard speak English well and ask for someone just how Americans do?

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Because it's a very old trick....imagine if the escapees had assumed that all the guard spoke was Farsi, and one of them commented to each other, "I hope we pull this off and get out of this place". Instant arrest. Your captors don't want you to know that they can understand you.

Also, Affleck's character had mentioned earlier that a lot of the guards at the third and most dangerous checkpoint had been educated in Europe and America, so it's not a surprise that they understood and spoke English.

I would like to know what was said during the Q&A in that room.

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Oh, that makes sense. I missed that Affleck's character said that some guards had been educated in Europe and America.

Thanks! Great flick. :)

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I don't think that scene happened in the real life but the "pretending I don't speak any English" act was a good plot point ... for a fiction.

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Yeah....great plot point if the guard pretends not to speak English. Thanks!

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You must be very young if you don't think that happens, and has happened, in real life.

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No, I'm not young, I'm an adult! But I really had no idea and didn't think about it. Wow....I'm sure that old trick does happen a lot!

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Yep, you are right. Scary thing to know, isn't it?

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Actually, that wasn't the first time the guard spoke in English ; before he went into the other room to make the call, he said : " You don't leave until we verify "

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[deleted]

They made it quite clear that Hollywood took the option for a Canadian movie. Sharing the profits. Variety covers a lot more than just L.A. It's a Trade paper.

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I think he knew English but usually spoke Fairsi because he was a devout Iranian. If he had to speak English, he would, but only when he felt it was necessary.

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You don't think it was sneaky on the guard's part to pretend?

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