: Argo
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this. I’m not a big fan of political stuff so I hesitated going to see it, but I was living in Africa during the Iranian hostage crisis and even as a kid I remember how tense the situation was (we were advised by the U.S. Embassy to be prepared to leave the country on a moment’s notice if things got worse), so the historical aspect had me very curious.
I’m really glad I saw the film. It begins with a great summary of the political situation at the time (very helpful), and moves right into the riots in Iran that led to the U.S. Embassy being overtaken. I must say, that was very frightening. Not only did this film really captured the period, but I’ve been near such situations (riots) and the mob mentality is probably the scariest thing out there (there’s just no reasoning with a mob).
The rest of the film is very exciting, though in truth not that much happens. It’s all about what could happen (i.e. the six escapees of the embassy being discovered as they try to leave Iran while pretending to be Canadian filmmakers there scouting locations for their new movie). There’s a lot of fun historical stuff, glimpses of Hollywood and the 1970s CIA, but I was disappointed at the lack of actual movie-making in the escape plan. Other than one brief outing to a market, the supposed film group did nothing. I guess that didn’t hurt their escape chances, but it was an aspect of the story that interested me and there wasn’t much to it in the film.
Another minor gripe is that the ending feels over-done and drawn out. While yes, there’s tension as identification papers are checked, it goes on forever, and feels to Hollywood. (In reality, I suspect that other than a moment or two of pure terror and nervousness, it all went very smoothly and without incident, but of course that’s not dramatic enough for Hollywood.)
Still, the entire movie is well-acted, the casting is fantastic, and I loved the way the film credits have side-by-side pictures of both actors and scenes in the film with their real-life counterparts. It’s not a flawless movie, but it’s very good, and not at all boring or political as it might sound.
Topic: [/movie] |
