Asghar Farhadi: Hollywood Misrepresents Foreign Cultures

Twice Oscar-winning filmmaker Asghar Farhadi stated at the Rio Film Festival that Hollywood films such as Argo perpetuate an American white savior myth and project a condescending view of foreign cultures. Speaking during an appearance to present his work, Parallel Tales, the Iranian director criticized the underlying motivations and cultural hegemony of major American productions.

Asghar Farhadi Criticizes Argo at the Rio Film Festival

Farhadi recalled watching Argo when it was released, noting that the Best Picture winner felt distinctly like a product of Hollywood storytelling. Directed by Ben Affleck, the film is loosely based on a true story and features a Latino exfiltration specialist masquerading as a Hollywood producer to rescue six Americans held captive in Tehran during the U.S. hostage crisis. The festival moderator pointed out that Affleck’s film portrays Iran “like you’re in hell.” Farhadi expanded on that critique by addressing what he views as a persistent superiority complex within American cinema.

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.

The director asserted that American claims to democracy are unfounded and described the notion as a lie. He contrasted official political narratives with his own firsthand observations from a previous research trip to the United States. During that visit, he traveled to San Francisco to speak with incarcerated men, concluding that the real America was there rather than in the images projected globally.

I have this problem when they feel they are up and they think, ‘[others] should be like us,’ Farhadi continued. Even if it’s in a good way and they want to be kind to you, they wish ‘one day you’ll become like us,’ and no, I don’t want to.

Farhadi Criticizes White Savior Tropes in Commercial Films

Focusing specifically on the mechanics of commercial filmmaking, Farhadi dismissed movies like Argo as not deep and business ventures driven primarily by money. He questioned the narrative persistence of American protagonists traveling to foreign nations like Iran or Cuba to rescue others.

They make these movies for money; it’s a business, Farhadi stated. And in these films it’s always a white guy from the United States saving 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?

Discussing his own approach to filmmaking, Farhadi maintained that addressing society inherently involves politics, even when the narrative focuses on family life, their relationships, their difficulties and problems. However, he distinguishes his methods from talking about politics directly, stating that his goal is to provide audiences with space to discover things about themselves. He cited Abbas Kiarostami’s 1983 documentary Fellow Citizen (Hamshahri), which trails drivers across the streets of Tehran, as Iran’s “most political film.”

Farhadi also addressed the broader influence of media and social platforms on international perception. He argued that mainstream media outlets, because the most powerful media belongs to powerful people, rely on very simple knowledge to frame others as the enemy. To counter this, he suggested that direct human contact remains the most reliable path to knowing people.

If one day people can travel to other countries, and if they shake hands, that’s the best way to know people, not through media, Farhadi said. I don’t believe media can give us the whole image.

Farhadi is set to shoot his upcoming film in his native language of Farsi, continuing his focus on character-driven narratives.