Rated R
The Academy Awards have come
and gone again and I’m back to comment on last year’s winner for Best Picture.
“Argo” is a drama/ thriller
that is based on the true events taking place during the Iran Hostage Crisis in
the Middle East during 1979. Six US Embassy workers escaped the building during
a storm of Islamic revolutionaries and take up hiding in the private home of
the Canadian ambassador. CIA agents then concoct a scheme on how to free the
homebound six without being noticed and/or identified at the airport.
CIA “exfiltration” specialist,
Tony Mendez (Affleck), comes up with a risky idea to sneak the diplomats out of
the country: He’s going to go over there, posed as a movie director, and take
the six trapped Americans out in public as the rest of his Canadian film crew
in search of ideal filming locations for their new sci-fi adventure flick
“Argo”. Of course, he has to change their appearance a bit, but not too much,
so that they aren’t immediately recognized by the revolutionaries who have word
of their hiding, but enough so that their Passport pictures still look like
them. Given all new identities to memorize, the six are understandably shaken
at the prospect of this literal life or death covert operation. And they’re not
the only ones, several CIA members back home aren’t too thrilled with this plan
but admit, it’s their best chance. It’s an incredibly precarious move for
Mendez too though. Not only is he risking the lives of the six, but if this
situation fails, it could be a national embarrassment for the US AND Canada.
The plan is so crazy that it just might work.
This secret mission was kept
secret from the public for decades in an effort to protect everyone’s
identities. I’m glad it was eventually revealed though, because I knew nothing
of this story.
The costuming and make-up
departments did an excellent job recreating this time period. Everything looked
incredibly authentic. In fact, I think there was real footage of the protests
interspersed with the film in the beginning. I did wonder how true it truly was
towards the end (the escape). My heart was racing like I was standing there
next to Mendez waiting to be interrogated at the airport. Was the getaway
really that close? Or were things a bit “Hollywoodized”?
This film was up against eight
other films including “Amour”, “Beasts of the Southern Wild”, “Django
Unchained”, “Life of Pi”, “Lincoln”, “Silver Linings Playbook”, “Zero Dark
Thirty”, and “Les Miserables”. I didn’t go to the theatres much last year, but
being that I adore the stage version, I did make time to see “Les Mis”. It was
a bit of a surprise that “Lincoln” didn’t win since that was the favored
frontrunner and highest grossing film that year. Although, six of the nine
films pulled in quite a bit of box-office sales all within a small range of
each other. There are some claims that “Argo” won the sympathy vote for the
obvious snub of Ben Affleck’s nomination for Best Director… who knows. He did
win that award at the Golden Globes, and it’s very unusual (only three films in the past) for a Director not to
be nominated when the film is nominated for Best Picture. No matter what, I
recommend this film and am very pleased I was “forced” to see it for this
continuing Oscar challenge. “Argo” was nominated for 7 awards and walked away
with 3 including “Best Adapted Screenplay” and “Best Film Editing”.
FAVORITE SCENE:
The whole last half hour or so
kept me glued to the screen due to the suspense of the escape. Here they are as
they’re being interrogated by airport security after showing their Passports.
They have to pull out all their fake film materials and really sell it to them.
LESSONS LEARNED:
Think of others. Mendez could’ve been a coward and refused to put his own
neck on the line, but he had confidence in himself and knew he had to do what
was right in order to save innocent lives.
Sometimes, you have to take
risks in order to get rewards.
The CIA has some crazy
stories hidden in their secret files that we may never know…