You can look at Ben Affleck’s Argo in two ways. In taking an actual incident involving the CIA and the 1979 hostage crisis and finessing it into a compelling and suspenseful potboiler, it entertains while informing. On the other hand, Affleck can veer into the type of truth embellishments deemed necessary to keep the proceedings from sinking to a documentary-like dramatic straitjacket. This risks devolving into a different problem when we’re treated with an airport car chase, for instance, that not only didn’t take place in the real life incident, but, above all, doesn’t make much sense as depicted here. Yet in Affleck’s third film as director (Gone Baby Gone, The Town) he displays the savvy skill of a far more veteran filmmaker.
Argo opens with a chilling portrayal of the storming of the American Embassy in Tehran by angry throngs of Iranians after it gives a quick backstory of the overthrow of Iran’s democratically elected regime (an overthrow aided by the United States) and his replacement with the reviled Shah. The embassy scene eerily conjures up modern day current events in Libya. Affleck filmed in Istanbul, impressively using thousands of walk-ons, who were taught Farsi slogans.
Big Ben first appears back in Washington at a CIA meeting to discuss methods to extricate six diplomats who managed to escape the embassy before being captured and then took refuge for several months at the home of the Canadian ambassador. He shoots down a rather absurd idea to have them pose as agriculture experts and ride bikes hundreds of miles to the border, then comes up with an ostensibly even sillier idea: Let’s go in, pretend to be a movie crew scouting locations, then get everybody out on a commercial flight with fake identities. The idea starts to catch on after enlisting the makeup man for Planet of the Apes, John Chambers (a hilarious John Goodman) to make it look like a real movie idea. By the time we get Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin as a crusty Hollywood producer) involved, the idea gets ready to climb the final rung of the ladder up to the Secretary of State (Philip Bakery Hall, dripping with his usual gravitas) and we’re on our way back to Iran. Apparently the fake movie company, which in the film plants fake stories and ads in Variety and stages a surreal read-through of the script by costumed actors, looked real enough it even received a screenplay from Steven Spielberg.
Affleck plays CIA agent Tony Mendez (upon whose memoir the screenplay is based) in about as anti-James Bond a manner as can be. Yet it’s not exactly Everyman Agent here as Affleck replaces Suave Agent with Brash Agent. It’s his way or the highway, he tells reluctant members of the group of six. Perhaps he needs to get this over as soon as possible so he won’t have to look at their bad 70’s haircuts any longer than necessary. In any case, before long we’ve got Ben rebelling against CIA bosses as well, defiantly meaning to bring this mission to a speedy conclusion.
Sporadic criticisms have Argo portraying rebelling Iranians in too harsh and cliched a manner. Yet just how do you portray a militant citizenry and a tyrannical Revolutionary Guard if you don’t show a little militancy and tyranny? Looming over events is the offstage story of the 52 men and women who were held hostage for 444 days. Affleck keeps things apolitical as far as policy yet throws in a little American flag and Jimmy Carter at film’s end for good measure.
Argo should be praised for the no easy feat of getting the look and feel of what it’s like to be embroiled in a gut-wrenching crisis in an overzealous and hostile foreign land. Affleck’s Mendez shows not one ounce of fear; Arkin and Goodman couch an underlying seriousness about the mission in an onslaught of witticisms that free-floatingly relieve the tension of the rest of the film. If the off-kilter hostages depicted here and the fluffy airport chase scene don’t seem to mesh as well with Argo’s driving force, the film quite capably overcomes them. In the pantheon of topical spy flicks, it finally yokes itself to an inner rhythm that confers its own cinematic authenticity….Now about those haircuts–
4 Silly Looking Hostages getting A Quickstudy As Filmmakers (out of 5)