October 13, 2012



I was so excited to see this. All of the previews looked amazing, and with Ben Affleck directing, I knew it wouldn’t be half bad. And I was right.



Now, I had never heard of this true story, based on six U.S. diplomats who were hiding out at the Canadian ambassador’s home after escaping the American embassy in Iran. After six months of hiding out, with only the government and families knowing where they were, the Canadian ambassador was worried his cover would be blown and all of them would be tortured and killed. Call in the CIA, which comes up with this plan of bicycles, with the group biking 300 miles to the Turkey border in the winter. A specialist for the CIA Tony Mendez (Affleck) is called in to help. He shoots down all of the suggestions. A few days later, he comes up with the plan of a film crew. In the next few days, he gets some Hollywood guys, John Chambers (John Goodman) and Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin) to front a fake movie, Argo, a sci-fi film that takes place in a middle eastern country, hence the Canadian film crew scouting a location in Iran.



As the two Hollywood guys work to put together a press junket, a fake studio, etc. the government works with Canada to make up fake identities, lives and passports for the six Americans. Mendez heads to Iran and somehow gets clearance to film in the country, however, he has to bring the crew to the market. After a run-in in the market, everyone heads back to the ambassador’s home and Mendez quizzes everyone on their ‘new’ identities. The group has some hesitation, but realizes that it’s their only way home at that point.



At that point, the government decides the fake film crew is a bad idea, and shuts it down, but Mendez doesn’t give up. He lets the CIA know he’s going through with it, and back home in the U.S. agents rush to get the clearance from the president for the plane tickets, etc.



Honestly, even though we all knew the ending, it was quite a nail biter.  I really enjoyed this film. The acting was pretty good, with just a little bit of humor, though not enough to make light of the seriousness of the situation. While we were two of the youngest in the audience, I realized that most in the theater probably lived through the Iran hostage crisis of 1979 and I really would like to know what they thought of the film.