A CIA agent is sent to rescue six ambassadors. He has a plan, but will it work?
The movie, Argo, is based off a real CIA rescue mission conducted in 1980.
After viewing the movie, I could not help but wonder why the incredible story had not been told earlier.
The thriller kept my full attention from beginning to end. The movie’s climactic moments were very intense and the actors did a great job portraying the characters that were based off of real people.
During the Iranian revolution of 1980, the U.S. cared for an ill Iranian dictator that was hated by his people. The Iranians were angry that the U.S. would aid such an evil man, and wanted America to return him back to Iran.
When this did not happen a mob of angered Iranians rushed the U.S. embassy in Iran.
Hundreds of American ambassadors were kept as hostages in the compound, but six ambassadors were able to escape through a back door. They took refuge with a Canadian ambassador living in Iran.
The movie’s plot is centered on the CIA’s plan to rescue the six ambassadors and get them out of the country.
Ben Affleck directed the film, and also starred as the main character Tony Mendez. His character was an agent who came up with the idea of producing a fake movie in order to rescue the ambassadors. The fake movie was titled “Argo.”
Mendez’s proposed fake movie idea was risky, but it was the only option the CIA had.
The agency gave the six ambassadors new identities. Each person was a part of the fake movie crew. Mendez’s job was to get them out of the country successfully, and in order to do that he had to teach each ambassador his or her new identity.
As to be expected, Affleck’s acting performance was solid, but his directorial skills are what really impressed me.
The movie was exciting, but not too fast paced. It captured the panic during that time in American history.
The interesting characters added to the intriguing storyline as well.
Joe Stafford (Scoot McNairy) was one of the ambassadors who regretted his decision not to the leave the country when his wife (Kerry Bishe) suggested doing so before the revolution. He was hesitant in trusting Mendez to get him, his wife and the other ambassadors out of Iran.
Movie producers John Chambers (John Goodman), and Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin) provided the comic relief in the movie. They agreed to pretend to produce Argo in order to make the CIA’s fake movie seem as realistic as possible.
Besides seeing the plans of a fake movie unfold, the audience also got insight into how the government handled the hostage crisis, and how some government leaders were more concerned over the crisis’s political implications than the actual safety of the ambassadors.
Because of the government’s political agenda, Mendez was struck with the dilemma of doing what was right and obeying orders.
Ultimately, the movie told the true story of six peoples’ struggle to escape Iran, and the man who vowed to get them out.