Argo Movie Review-Worth Seeing or Not?

In the midst of political elections, controversy over the assassination of the U.S. Ambassador and a few other officials in Benghazi , Libya, and the endless crisis in the Middle East comes an opportune moment for the release of the movie Argo which uncovers the rescue mission of the American hostages in Iran in the late 1970s. The story was unknown to Americans for decades.  Argo is directed by and stars Ben Affleck in one of his best projects. In the 1970s Iran was becoming a powerful country under the regime of the Shah or King of Iran.  He was empowering technology and wanted to move the country toward democracy.  Many American families lived, worked, and went to school in Iran.  Tension started to unfold when there was an extreme separation of rich and poor, Carter's presidency, and protests from Ayatollah Khomeini's activists who wanted to overthrow the Shah's government.  The activists were against a westernized country, held demonstrations, and the anti-American sentiment was increasing. In the beginning of 1979 all Americans and their families were asked to evacuate the country.  This led to the eventual demise of the regime, the Shah left for exile in Egypt, and Khomeini came out of exile after 16 years and replaced the monarchy with an Islamic republic.  



Chris Terrio and Ben Affleck


 Mr. Affleck perfects depicting the late 1970s, early 80's era with authentic wardrobe, makeup, props, historical footage mixed in with actual movie sets. The movie unveils how the Iranian student demonstrators were in front of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran daily and eventually on November 4, 1979 climbed the gates of the Embassy and raided the office buildings.  The government workers were shredding classified documents during the raid, scurrying away from the militants, but eventually the protestors captured 52 American hostages.  Argo focuses on the 6 hostages who escaped and sought refuge in the  home of the  Canadian Ambassador and his wife.  Ben Affleck plays Tony Mendez an exfiltration specialist who helps rescue the 6 American diplomats with the cooperation of the Canadian government and CIA.   He is called to duty in planning a creative mission to successfully rescue the 6 American hostages.  The CIA's choice of being fake teachers in the country, or biking to the Turkish border did not seem promising.  He convinces officials that the best "bad idea" would be to develop a Hollywood film production company with an office, script, media footage, and display ads in papers for a science fiction movie called Argo.  The six hostages can be Canadian production crew scouting film locations for the movie in Iran.  He gets the assistance of John Chambers (John Goodman) and Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin) to execute the plan.  He tries to smuggle the 6 American diplomats out of Iran by having them memorize their new identities, and using Canadian passports which contains forged Iranian visas by the CIA. During the entire time of the mission Iranian security officials are trying to uncover where the missing 6 hostages are hiding.   Will the mission deceive Iranian officials, or the 6 Americans left stranded with a high chance of being killed?   The film keeps you engaged and on the edge of your seat, curious if this mission will be successful.  It also refreshes your memory of one time in history that may have been forgotten, or for viewers learning about it for the first time.  






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