Film Review: Argo: When reality is stranger than fiction

MANILA, Philippines - Directed by and starring Ben Affleck, Argo is a truly impressive feat of filmmaking. The subject matter is history, the outcome foregone; but thanks to the screenplay, the crisp editing and dramatic license, the tension is palpable and the audience is totally involved, sucked into the edge-of-your-seat situation.

It’s 1979, Jimmy Carter is in the White House, and over in Iran, the US-backed Shah is deposed and granted exile in America, while the Ayatollah Khomeini takes over the country. The US Embassy is stormed as Iranians demand for the return of the Shah, and six Visa section personnel escape the fate of the 50 Embassy personnel by walking out of the consulate and finding refuge at the Canadian Ambassador’s residence. Over in Washington, the State Department is in a tizzy — on one hand, trying to find a solution for the 50 hostages, while on the other hand, seeking some way to manage the precarious safety of the six. Tony Mendez, a CIA “exfiltration” specialist is brought in to help find a way to rescue and extricate the six.

What happens and how it goes make up this film, an operation that was covert and only declassified in 1997. The bureaucratic red tape and wrangling, the terror and fear of discovery, the way in which the outlandish and downright implausible — enter Iran as a film producer scouting locations for a Canadian-backed science fiction film — becomes the best option among several bad ones, the split-second decisions that become life-or-death situations, the last-minute hitches and myriad possibilities of things going wrong.

These all make for a film that’s taut with suspense and drama at every turn. The treatment of how the sci-fi film scenario comes to play is rich with humor and irony, making for a wonderful counterpoint to the levity of the hostage and rescue scenarios. In fact, one sequence that truly impressed me was the cross-editing of two press events that were polar opposites — the reading of the screenplay of Argo, the film project and the press conference in Iran where they were condemning the Embassy personnel as spies.

The cast is wonderful, Affleck as Mendez, Alan Arkin as the Hollywood producer brought in to give credence to the sci-fi film cover story, and John Goodman as Mendez’s LA connection. The attention to period detail is impeccable; it was fun remembering a time when there was smoking on flights.

In The Town, we got a glimpse of how Affleck has matured as a director, and this Argo is possibly one that may be in strong consideration come Oscars time next year. With some of its parts laugh-out funny, while other parts high drama and suspense, the film is quite a feat for Affleck to have pulled off. Stay for the film credits as ex-President Jimmy Carter has some final words on the covert operation story now brought to light via a film treatment.