You don’t need to like Ben Affleck as an actor to enjoy this exceptional film. Here goes …
Argo (Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, John Goodman, Alan Arkin, Victor Garber) – I don’t think Ben Affleck is much of an actor. Sure, he’s good looking but he is no Ryan Gosling. Of course, he won an Oscar with Matt Damon for the screenplay of Good Will Hunting. I am, however, very impressed with Ben as a director. Both The Town and Gone Baby Gone (starring his brother, Casey) were excellent films and expertly directed. So is Argo.
Based on a true story, Argo tells the saga of six Americans who escaped from the Embassy in Tehran when Iranians stormed over and through the gates and took more than 50 hostages. While the American public followed the crisis through Ted Koppel on Americans Held Hostage (which morphed into Nightline), we knew nothing of the hidden six who had taken refuge in the Canadian ambassador’s home.
As in Apollo 13, viewers already know how this ends. But just as Ron Howard did in that space film, Affleck keeps us on pins and needles as CIA operative Tony Mendez hatches and later executes a seemingly ridiculous escape plan. Mendez is an expert in ex-filtration, that is, extricating Americans stuck in hostile countries. Affleck, who decided to cast himself as Mendez, portrays President Jimmy Carter’s State Department leadership (Cyrus Vance et al) as ignoramuses (who would argue?). Alternately, the CIA is depicted as very competent with Bryan Cranston portraying Mendez’s boss, Jack O’Donnell. Mendez concocts the unlikely cover story that he is the producer of a science fiction movie set in the Middle East and wants to do location scouting for the film in Iran. To pull off the charade, he enlists the help of John Chambers (John Goodman), a Hollywood make-up artist who has done previous work for the CIA (who knows for what purpose?). To make the plan work, there had to be a credible back-story for the film. Goodman enlightens Mendez about the movie business and talks an over-the-hill but well-known producer (Alan Arkin in brilliant casting) into joining the ruse, setting up a production company, co-opting the media into publicizing it, and choosing a script that provides the necessary cover.
Once approved, the plan has to be executed quickly because the Iranians realize that some Embassy employees are not among the hostages. The bad guys are closing in; the six escapees are feeling claustrophobic inside their safe house; and the hostage crisis shows no sign of being resolved any time soon (it ultimately lasted 444 days). In this dramatization, the operation was called off the day before extrication was to take place, but Mendez would have none of it. That may or may not be true, but as viewers, we don’t care. After all, the movie only proclaims that it is “based on a true story,” which means it is more real than “inspired by a true story” but not as true as “this is a true story.” Howard’s moon mission film may have been closer to actual events (read Jim Lovell’s book to get the actual story) but Affleck’s version of Argo (the name of the fake movie) is close enough that the real Tony Mendez hit the talk show circuit to promote it.
Affleck does a marvelous job of matching scenes to actual photos taken at the time. The storming of the Embassy puts us right in the action. The actors portraying the six escapees, the Canadian ambassador (Victor Garber) and his wife look uncannily like the real people (unlike Affleck, who looks nothing like Mendez). The scenes showing the interactions of the six and the doubts they had about the plot or their ability to pull off their roles as crew for the fake film feel very real. The cinematography and music transport us, as viewers, to Iran (the foreign scenes were shot in Turkey).
This is a carefully crafted movie that will be remembered more for its feel than for its acting, which is a tribute to Affleck, too. And as the movie reaches it denouement, we feel all the emotion and relief of the situation. Even the scenes in the end credits are worth waiting for. If you haven’t seen Argo already, make sure you go before it leaves your local theater.