On the couch

The truth, they say, is stranger than fiction. If Argo is anything to go by, then whoever coined that phrase seriously underestimated how right they were.

 

Based on actual CIA files declassified in the ’90s, director Ben Affleck’s Best Picture Oscar-winner is set in Iran in 1979, several months after milita forces overran the US Embassy in Tehran, taking over 50 people hostage.

The revolution was a response to the CIA’s involvement in the country’s politics and anti-American sentiment was high. During the chaos that followed the storming of the embassy, six staff from the visa office managed to escape the general round-up, eventually making their way to the mansion of the Canadian ambassador where they were kept hidden.

Months of the stalemate later, the political climate starts to shift and trying to get the six out – military types would probably say exfiltrate them but that sounds more like something a proctologist would do – becomes a priority, a job Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck), the CIA’s top exfil guy, is called in to consult on.
After shooting down a number of plans through the pointed application of common sense, Mendez hits upon the only idea that he sees as having any chance of succeeding in such a volatile climate – make a fake movie, make the six hostages look like Canadian crew on a location scout in the country and ship them out that way.

He hits up his mate, John Chambers (an Oscar-winning special effects makeup artist), to get him an in with some Hollywood types and before you can say Zap Brannigan they have a producer, offices and a shonky sci-fi epic, Argo, to explain why they’re in Iran.

Mendez is like the anti-Bourne, the nega-Bond. A rumpled schlub whose life is in a bit of a mess – he lives apart from his missus and son and forever finds his work gets in the way of his being a good dad – Tony isn’t the martini slurping, beat up seven dudes with a copy of the RTÉ Guide sort of a spy you might expect.

At his most emphatic when on the phone to his boss, Jack O’Donnell (Bryan Cranston), trying to get plane tickets for his six charges, he is more a slumped but well-connected fixer than a cold-hearted ass-kicker with a quip for every corpse.

The only character who doesn’t play it reserved and realistic is Alan Arkin as producer Lester Siegel. As befits his station Arkin, gets the bulk of the film’s best lines (“Argo f*** yourself” being just one, a retort to an annoying reporter”).

Making up the ranks of the six hostages are a few actors who you may not be too familar with but should get used to seeing around.

Scoot McNairy as Joe Stafford and Kerry Bishé as his wife Kathy are both particularly good as a couple feeling the strain after a long period in hiding.

There’s nothing obviously flashy about Argo (Affleck’s one, not the sci-fi one). No towering performances or jaw-dropping direction, nothing to distract from a fascinating, absorbing story. Every perfectly fashioned jigsaw piece fits together to form an engrossing whole.

While the finer points of the history might be a little shaky – go nuts on wikipedia folks – there are so many things here that reek of authenticity that you cannot but not savour every second.

From the opening credits to the fantastic use of real news reports to add context to the hostage’s situation you can practically smell the cigarette smoke, sweat and Old Spice. You won’t find a more finely fashioned piece of work this year.