Writer: Chris Terrio, Tony Mendez and Joshuah Bearman
Producer: George Clooney
Starring: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, John Goodman
So the Oscars happened, but you probably knew this already- not exactly flashing news. And now we are moving into this years summer releases- finally we can watch “The Great Gatsby”, which will be a highlight, for me anyway.The fact that the Oscars are over, however is not going to stop me continuing to write about the films that were nominated and now may or may not have won a golden statue. Lets proceed.
Had I organised my life and written this entry before the Award ceremony on the 24th of Feb 2013, I would of definitely predicted that “Argo” (2012) would win at least one Oscar. Instead it won three: Best Motion picture (Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck and George Clooney), Best Screenplay (Chris Terrio) and Best Achievement in Editing (William Goldenberg). Ben Affleck was not nominated for Best Director at the Academy Awards however he did win a BAFTA for his directing capabilities; so as they say win some, lose some.
Regardless of the fact that the film is now Oscar certified and it comes adorned with 57 other wins from various Award ceremonies the film should not be cast aside as pretentious. It is still, most definitely, worth a watch. The narrative itself seems ludacris: revolving around CIA agent, Tony Mendez (played by Affleck) who devices a plot in attempt to rescue 6 other American ambassadors, who are in hiding in Iran after a raid on the US embassy during the revolution of 1980. The plan is they are going to be ‘smuggled’ out of Iran by obtaining fake Canadian identities and pretending to be part of a film crew searching for locations to shoot a new up and coming Sci-fi movie. A script is chosen, there are storyboards drawn up, costume designs- the works. Mendez travels to Iran and encounters countless problems in trying to extradite the fugitives back to the US safetly. This type of plot, one would think, could only be drawn up in Hollywoodland but what makes the story even more unbelievable is that the film is actually based on real life events.
This is not just your average Hollywood action movie. In fact, there is very little action at all, but tonnes of suspense. The film starts of as a documentary of the Iranian Revolution of 1979, and then, using a graphic match, the shot moves from documentary footage continuing the image of the revolution into the film shot. Overall the film can be classified as historical drama. Affleck has been criticised for his falsification of the events- new characters invented, scenes and facts added etc. But, in all honesty, what historical representation or even documentary is completely factually accurate? They all get edited in some way or another- the main objections are that they provide good entertainment to capture an audiences attention for the films duration and perhaps provide a starting point/ alternative information for the viewer who may want to research deeper into the subject in question.
Thus ‘historically’ Affleck neglected to mention the full aid provided from various goverments and give credit to the principle historical players such as Ken Taylor- the Canadian Ambassador who originally (supposedly) devised the whole plan- and completely dismissing the aid given by the British embassy to the fugitives. It can be argued, however, that due to the mise-en-abyme effect created by focusing on the making of a film within a film, Affleck’s objective was not to support any particular government at all (the American government is not represented very well yet it does play a bigger part in getting the hostages to safetly) but rather Affleck pays the highest credit to the role of Hollywood in the missions success- as any good little Hollywood boy would, when having to premier his film infront of Tinstletowns elite. Essentially the film acts as a reminder to the audience that Affleck has still got some talent since his last Oscar nominated directing project, “Gone Baby Gone” (2007).
Regardless of whatever point, historical fact, myth, story, low budget sci-fi drama the film was trying to fabricate or recreate- the point is YOU need to watch it.
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