(2 hrs exactly, color, 2012)
When we Americans see a movie
depicting an episode out of fairly recent American history, I think each of us
is inclined to ask at once, “Where was I when that was happening?” assuming the
happening was during our lifetime and assuming memory is dim. We are looking now at the months of November
1979 to January 1980 and what took place in the Iranian capital of Tehran
during those days and weeks. Even while
it was going on I am not sure all of us were all that aware of the fine
details. Maybe our eyes and ears sneaked
a look when our minds were not watching.
Maybe we retained enough that when the overthrow of the Shah has been
mentioned in conversation we have been able to summon up images of an Islamic
militant revolution that put Ayatollah Khomeini in power.
What most of us are not as
likely to be aware of is the manner in which the U.S. was involved in the
subsequent turmoil. Our country did
nothing to incite the revolution, but we were caught in the snare of it, and
“Argo” (this past year’s winner of the Oscar for Best Picture) shows how far
the trouble for us extended. I confess
that the name Tony Mendez was not in my mental file anywhere before I saw this
picture. Now he will be there for the
rest of my natural life. I am sure that
the same will hold true for any American who sees the film. He was a CIA operative who specialized in the
business of rescue, and in the days following the Shah’s overthrow that skill
was put to a quite remarkable use. But
let us start from the beginning.
The movie opens in Tehran on
November 4, where suddenly Americans have become the enemy, whoever they may be
and whatever their reason for being in the country. All Americans in Iran were considered
spies. It was open season on them. Adding fuel to this fire was the action of
the U.S. in providing sanctuary for the fugitive Shah, who barely escaped with
his life. An obvious target for this
popular rage and fanaticism that broke out was of course the American
Embassy. All at once even the immunity
and neutrality of diplomats were nullified, and the crowd that smashed their
way into that Embassy were prepared to wreak extreme havoc. Twenty-one of the twenty-seven Americans on
the premises were taken prisoner and held as hostages for what turned out to be
four hundred and forty-four days. Only
the remaining six managed to slip away in time, taking refuge in the home of
the Canadian ambassador. There they
remained in fear of their lives and forced to stay indoors to avoid
detection.
Enter Tony Mendez (played by
Ben Affleck, who also directed the picture) pretending under an assumed name to
be a movie maker scouting for locations for a science fiction potboiler. With the Canadians’ help he enrolls the six
desperate people into assuming fake Canadian identities and posing as the fake
movie’s chief production personnel, all of them eventually required to walk
through airport checkpoints with doctored passports where armed soldiers are
screening hungrily for Americans. Mendez
knows that any commando raid by the U.S. military aimed at freeing the hostages
would result in their execution by their captors and that the airport is the only
way out of the country for the beleaguered six.
“Argo,” which incidentally is
the title of the fake movie within the movie, is a real nail biter. The tautness is so keen throughout the entire
footage that when I viewed it a second and a third time, knowing what was
coming, I still tensed up and felt the heart beating in my chest and was left
breathless and shaken. Much of this
effect I am sure derives from my being a citizen of the U.S., rooting for my
fellow country folk and thrilling to see American courage on the part of
American civilians put to such extraordinary use. What we have is essentially a plot driven
film. Little of real individual
character development is employed; Mendez is portrayed by Affleck in very low
gear and we get nothing more than a peek into his private life. But all the personae in the drama, as
intermittently as they pop up, are certainly colorful and the dialogue is
pungent with sardonic one liners. Alan
Arkin as a Hollywood movie executive who gets drawn into the plot has the most
memorable lines. All he has to do is
open his mouth and he lights up the screen from every direction. John Goodman as a makeup expert gets in a few
licks as well. But the story feasts most
of all upon good old fashioned suspense.
We get wound tighter and tighter until the heart is in the throat and
threatens to gag us in the mouth. It
gives the old vernacular phrase “a close shave” new poignancy.
Just how closely the
screenplay follows the course of the actual events on which it is based is a
question we must leave to those in the know.
The real Tony Mendez, now retired, has praised it to the sky, while
others including then President Jimmy Carter have expressed disappointment that
not enough credit for the mission is given to the Canadians, as have many
Canadians. We have to bear in mind that
it is not a documentary we are watching but a dramatic movie with elements
added “for dramatic purposes.”
Entertainment, in other words!
But the production values are first rate, especially the staging of
crowd scenes with their requisite use of extras. The editing and pacing are just about
perfect. And there is some real
imagination evident in the use of soundtrack music. Affleck may not have made an epic
masterpiece, but if I had been behind the camera, I do not think I would have
wanted to do anything differently. His
material was well served.
To read other entries in my
blog, please consult its website:
enspiritus.blogspot.com
I welcome feedback. Direct it to bobracine@verizon.net
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