Argo is the story of a real life operation conducted in 1980 to rescue American hostages in Iran, at the time of the revolution.
The movie begins, November 4th 1979, with an enormous protest which attacks and breaks through the doors of the US Embassy in Tehran. The protesters include EVERYONE (all ages) fighting for their freedom (as they called it) and hence hijacking the embassy was the perfect way to let the US government know that they mean business. They want the US (who had given the Shah asylum) to send the Shah back so that he could pay for his crimes.
SPOILER ALERT!
During the hijacking, six members of the US embassy escape through a hidden pathway and seek refuge in the Canadian ambassador's residence. No one apart from a few people in the US government knew about the six that had escaped. They began to find ways to help the escapees ex-filtrate from Iran.
Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck) , a CIA exfiltration specialist brought in for consultation, criticizes the proposals, but is at a loss for an alternative. While on the phone with his son, he gets inspired by the movie "Battle Of The Planet Of The Apes" and begins plans for creating a cover story for the escapees being Canadian filmmakers looking for extraordinary and exotic locations in Iran for a similar type of science-fiction movie.
Mendez and his supervisor Jack O'Donnell (Bryan Cranston) contact John Chambers (John Goodman), a Hollywood make-up artist who has previously crafted disguises for the CIA. Chambers puts them in touch with film producer Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin).
Together they set up a fake film studio, publicise their plans, and successfully establish the pretense of developing Argo, a "science fantasy" in the style of "Star Wars", to lend credibility to the cover story.
Meanwhile, the escapees grow frantic inside the ambassador's residence. The revolutionaries reassemble embassy papers shredded before the takeover and learn that some personnel have escaped.
SPOILER ALERT!
Mendez's cover is that of the producer of the film "Argo". He arrives in Iran and links up with the six escapees at the Canadian ambassadors residence. He provides them with fake identities and Canadian passports. The escapees need to learn everything about their cover stories, which seems easier to some than others. The group of escapees are reluctant to believing what Mendez proposes as they do not yet trust him.
However, they still go along with him to a scouting visit into the bazaar, as they know that Mendez is risking his life as well. At the bazaar, events go from bad to worse as one of the escapees (posing as a photographer) takes pictures of a man's shop, who is not pleased by this (to say the least). A crowd develops who support the man's anger. This situation could have gotten a lot worse, if their Iranian culture contact didn't guide them away from the hostile crowd.
Suddenly, Mendez is informed that the operation has been cancelled and he needs to come back due to the military going in to rescue the hostages. Ignoring his bosses' orders, he goes ahead with the operation. He pushes O'Donnell to quickly re-obtain authorisation for the plane tickets to their flight from Iran to Canada.
There's tension at the airport, where the escapees' flight reservations are confirmed at the last minute, and a guard's call to the supposed studio in Hollywood is answered at the last second. The group boards the plane, which takes off just as the Revolutionary Guards at the airport uncover the ruse and try to stop them.
As the plane flies out of Iranian borders, there is a huge sigh of relief for the escapees, Mendez and to be honest the audience too.
SPOILER ALERT!
Canada is given all the credit for this plan, as US involvement would endanger the remaining hostages back in the US embassy in Tehran.
Mendez is awarded the Intelligence Star (One of the most prestigious awards in the CIA), but due to the classified nature of the mission, he would not be able to keep the medal until the details were made public in 1997. All the hostages were freed on January 20, 1981. The film ends with the speech of the former President Jimmy Carter and his views on these events.
All in all I think this movie is very well made,written, EVERYTHING! Flaws, to be perfectly honest, I could not find any as I was just so involved with the film that I just wanted the escapees to return back home safe and sound.
RATING SYSTEM
Performance 9/10
Direction 9/10
Story/Script 9/10
Action 7/10
Cinematography 8/10
Action 7/10
Cinematography 8/10
Music/Soundtrack 7/10
I would give Argo 8.2/10 "8.2 out of 10"Rating: Must watch, very good
