Argo
2012
***
Director: Ben Affleck
Cast: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, John Goodman, Tate Donovan, Clea DuVall, Christopher Denham, Scoot McNairy, Kerry Bishé
Following the 1979 takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran, six American citizens find refuge in the home of the Canadian ambassador. CIA operative Tony Mendez has a plan to bring them home. He pretends to be a Canadian movie producer on a location scout in Iran for a science fiction flick called Argo, and the six are members of his crew. Ben Affleck's third directorial effort is a mechanical but perfectly enjoyable thriller, and an underwhelming political drama. The curious fact-based premise sounds almost too good to be true, but truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. Well, except for the climactic airport scene which is clearly latter. Sadly Affleck's Iran doesn't have individuals, only one angry, hostile mob. The six embassy workers don't come off much better. They're a faceless and uninteresting group of people in peril, yet we're compelled to care about their fate because they're American. This feelgood mix of real-life drama and politics appealed to the Academy who awarded the film three Oscars for Best Film Editing, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Picture. Chris Terrio's script is adapted from Mendez's book The Master of Disguise and the Wired magazine article The Great Escape by Joshuah Bearman. For a proper portrayal of Iranian people before and after the Islamic Revolution, see Persepolis.
