As the years go by, I gain more and more respect for Ben Affleck. Initially, I thought he and Matt Damon got lucky with ‘Good Will Hunting’ (the film that launched their careers), but as time passes, I realize that many times people make their own luck. Affleck has proven himself a good actor and, now as he transitions into the director role, he has proven himself a more than a capable director (‘Gone Baby Gone’ and ‘The Town’). In ‘Argo’ he takes on both the lead acting and directing roles and produces a thoroughly riveting human story based on the Iranian hostage crisis of 1979.
Suspenseful docudramas are tricky for a variety of reasons. For one thing, for anyone alive at the time or knows history, we know the resolution. Suspense is strongest when one doesn’t know the outcome. Also, it’s difficult to tell a political story without the prism of your political beliefs seeping through. I feel Affleck succeeded in traversing both obstacles. His ability to create suspense and tension so thick that you could cut it with a knife was impressive. In regards to politics, Affleck is a well-known Hollywood activist, but he managed to stay fairly objective with only a few moments of his personal bias showing through. It was a well crafted and informative tale about a CIA mission to secretly rescue hostages that has since been declassified.
The Iranian hostage crises was not the first major news event I remember, but it was the first one I remember following with interest. Night after night, the saga of American citizens being held hostage in a foreign land captured the attention of our nation like nothing else I had remembered before. It spawned entire news shows (Nightline started because of the crisis) and it ultimately was one of the major factors of Carter’s defeat in the Presidential elections. It was a different time that had a different national mood and Affleck did a superb job at capturing the feeling of the era. The country was demoralized after the Watergate scandal, rocked with a gas crisis and a floundering economy, and for the first time America began to have a sense of feeling they were declining as a world economic and political power.
The story of six hostages who escaped the siege was one I vaguely remember. At the time, credit was given to the Canadians, and while they were definitely a huge factor, it was a CIA operation hatched by one agent that ultimately was the blueprint that rescued them. Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck) was tasked with coming up with a way to rescue the hostages as their time was running out. The hostages had taken refuge at the Canadian embassy and the Canadians were getting ready to recall their ambassador. The hostages were about to be stranded and at the mercy of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
Out of a sea of bad idea’s, Agent Mendez’s plan to go in as a Canadian film crew and incorporate the hostages as part of his film crew seemed to be the least ridiculous (not that it didn’t sound ridiculous). This was a plan that had to be completely plausible and able to hold up to scrutiny, so Agent Mendez went to Hollywood to find a movie to start up that would be printed in all of the industry publications. Alan Arkin and John Goodman play Hollywood insiders who sign on with Affleck to help him with his plan. Half the fun of this movie was seeing the process of how a movie gets backing in Hollywood (even if it’s an imaginary one). After leafing through endless scripts, the team settles on a Sci-fi movie called ‘Argo’. Their logic was that Iran offers exotic cityscapes that would be plausible for a movie company seeking it out for a film. Hopefully, the Iranian government would accept this logic as well.
As I stated earlier, we all know the outcome, but Affleck did a great job in illustrating the emotional trials of six people who know they may be discovered and hanged at any moment. The dynamics of the group interaction was the heart of the film and we lived their fears and pressures right along with them. It also painted a picture of another part of the world very different than our own. A modern world, yet one where people are still hanged in public for political beliefs. A world where rule of mob is stronger than rule of law. It’s a sobering reminder of the liberties we enjoy even while we sometimes complain about the lack of them.
This is a good piece of docu-history. It takes those of us who remember back in time to see a story that was not commonly known and it would be a good education for those too young to remember exactly what the nation went through. Affleck is evolving as a director and I would be surprised if this isn’t nominated at Academy time.
I give this film *** 1/2 stars
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