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Rating: 5*

Directed by: Ben Affleck

Actors:

Ben Affleck

Bryan Cranston

Alan Arkin

John Goodman

It was only a few weeks ago that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated the threat of a Nuclear Iran with his undistinguished cardboard bomb chart. At this delicate time, it would seem a film about the 1979 Hostage Crisis could add fuel to the fire of an aggressive position on Iran. At least, it would seem that Argo would be a film to anger or frustrate one side of the political spectrum. Yet, it miraculously doesn’t. And for that, it cements Ben Affleck’s reputation as a top director.

Argo tries to understand the 1979 Hostage Crisis in which 52 Americans were taken hostage for over a year. The film centers on the six people who secretly fled to the Canadian Embassy. The film focuses on the attempts of the American government to bring back these six through a myriad of unusual and strange tactics. Their best “bad idea” is to set a fake film production, Argo, in Iran, and guise these individuals as part of the crew. Supplied with fake credentials, the hope is to get these people on a plane back home.

Argo is simply bizarre for the standards of Hollywood political thrillers. The film starts by establishing the reasons for Anti-American sentiment in Iran and reinforces these sentiments throughout the film. It also shows the anger of Americans without resulting to exaggeration. The most impressive thing about the film is Affleck’s eye for detail. Either he researched a lot about Iran or had good researches on his side, as his film showcases a very realistic revolutionary Iran. Filmed in Mclean, Virginia, Washington D.C. and Istanbul, one still get the sense of being in Tehran in those historic days. However, a criticism can be made that Argo shows a more conservative Iran that would have been seen in 1979. The conservative, Islamic image may be appropriate for early 80’s Iran, but may be a little too drastic for the eve of the revolution.

Affleck has made two movies: one amidst a revolution and the other in Hollywood. The fake film, Argo, eats away a portion of the time duration but not enough to be intrusive to the flow of the movie. Affleck makes some insider Hollywood jokes, but quickly phases back in to the hostage crisis. He avoids the damning curse of actually filming anything with his fake crew when his character arrives in Iran. He smoothly transitions between the frustrations of Iranians, the fear of the hostages, the artificial Hollywood atmosphere, and the unpredictable mood in Tehran.

Argo is better than the vast majority of this or the past decade’s political movies. It avoids the obtrusive political jargon and leftist positions of films like Syriana. Even though George Clooney is one of the producers, the film succeeds by not becoming another Clooney-like political thriller. That is, a movie so simple in its philosophy yet so complex in its execution. Simply but, Argo is a magnificent achievement for Affleck. Though Gone Baby Gone showed his potential, Argo establishes him as a true auteur. At the end of the film, we don’t really hate the Iranians or root for the hostages because their Americans. We want them to escape because their innocent bystanders caught in a political game.