Review by Bob Ignizio
52 United States citizens were taken
hostage by Iranian revolutionaries on November 4th, 1979; their
ordeal would last 444 days. Only six employees from the U.S. Embassy
managed to escape being taken, eventually finding sanctuary in the
Canadian embassy. Unfortunately, they still couldn't leave their
safehouse, so while their conditions were certainly better than those
of their fellows, they were effectively still prisoners. But thanks
to the power of science fiction, comic book art, and the movies (plus
a little bit of help from the CIA), the Americans were smuggled out
of Iran and back home after 79 days. ARGO,
directed by and starring Ben Affleck, is the more or less true story
of how that happened.
Affleck
plays CIA agent Tony Mendez, a specialist in the fields of disguise and extraction. When the Iranian hostage
situation transpires and the government becomes aware of the six
citizens staying at the Canadian embassy, Mendez comes up with the
“best bad idea” for getting them safely back to America. His plan
is to have have himself and the six Americans pretend to be a
Canadian crew scouting locations for a science fiction film. To make
sure his cover story is convincing, he enlists the aid of John
Chambers (John Goodman), an Academy Award winning special effects
artist Mendez has worked with before. Alan Arkin plays a producer
brought in to add credibility to the fake production, Bryan Cranston
plays Mendez' superior, and the American “house guests” are
played by Clea Duvall, Christopher Denham, Kerry Bishé, Scott
McNairy, Rory Cochrane, and Tate Donovan.
ARGO
begins with a nicely executed sequence depicting the history of U.S.
involvement in Iran using film storyboards that come to life. Once we
get into the film proper, Affleck's direction gives it the feel of a
seventies/early eighties political drama ala ALL THE
PRESIDENTS MEN. There's a bit
more grain in Rodrigo Prieto's photography than the slick high-def
look most films have today, and a real urgency and vitality to his
camera movements. The performances by the main cast are all of a high
caliber, and even the small parts are filled by quality actors like
Phillip Baker Hall, Adrienne Barbeau, Titus Welliver, Richard Kind,
Victor Garber, and Michael Parks. For what it is, ARGO is
an extremely well-made and gripping film, and despite the fact that
we know from history everyone will get out okay, it still manages to
create considerable tension and suspense.
What
ARGO is not is an
entirely factual account of what happened. Most of the changes are
understandable in terms of streamlining the narrative and making for
a more entertaining film, and to some degree a balance is struck
between those goals and the truth. One of the less forgivable alterations is not giving the name of the storyboard artist
whose work added a good deal to the authenticity of the ruse. This is especially hard to understand considering there is a scene
in which we meet the artist, and he even gets a line. Just no
identification. Since I think it matters, I'll say it here – it was
Jack Kirby, the man who co-created Captain America with Joe Simon and
most of the Marvel Comics superheroes along with Stan Lee.There's also some dispute over who came up with the idea for the caper, Mendez or Chambers. Read more here.
As is
always the case when I watch any movie “based on a true story”,
my main concern is not how accurate it is, but whether or not it's a
good movie. A few minor tweaks here and there would have resulted in
a more factual film that was just as entertaining, but the movie we
have is good enough that it should inspire those who see it to dig
deeper for the full story. 3 1/2 out of 4 stars.
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