1 Line Review: If it’s gonna be one movie you will watch this Diwali, make sure it’s ARGO!
Through out the movie I was siting on the edge of the seat, literally. ARGO is the most thrilling movie I have seen in 2012. Even if you have not watched the latest James Bond thriller Skyfall, does not matter, give it a miss and book tickets for ARGO, now!
The movie is based on a true story which happened in Iran in November 1979, when militants took over the American Embassy in retaliation to the belief that their leader ‘Shah’ was kept in the US. More than 50 Americans were taken hostage but 6 of them managed to escape just before the invasion and took shelter in Canadian Embassy for months together. The 50 captured inside the compound were kept in the US embassy as hostages for more than 1.5 years! But ARGO is not about them, it’s about the 6 who left the Embassy.
The story is about how these 6 were taken out of Iran. When nothing fitted well in the current scenarios, US finalized on the idea of covering these 6 as film crew from Canada who are on a mission to make a Sci-fi movie called ARGO in exotic locations, scouting for which they came to Iran. This was called an ‘exfilteration’. Ben Affleck (originally Tony Mendez) is the Man of the Movie (like the Man of the Match in cricket!), his determination to make things happen in that situation was commendable.
Since it’s a true story, movie has a lot of real clipping from those days inserted in, to give the audience a sense of the seriousness of the situation in Iran back then. There were men hanging from cranes on streets, mass killing, catching all fleeing Americans from the Airport and killing them etc., all this actually happened.
To ensure that the plot looks real, they got real make up artist, movie biggie (Lester Siegal), press conference, articles in newspaper, a real script, blue prints etc., and these 6 folks were made the director, scriptwriter etc.
The thrill that goes through your spine while watching ARGO, when you know this actually happened, is phenomenal. Even with a 2 hour run time, you will never feel it’s long enough!
Were they able to pull off this fake movie cover? Were the 6 able to convincingly portray the characters designated to them as Canadian movie makers? Were they able to cheat the Tehran Airport (so called) security, considered to be very very smart in finding out Americans? Well it’s for you to find out.
It’s a must watch and I am gonna watch it many more times. Do not leave early as there’s a lot to read just before the credit rolls and there is a commentary that follows soon after, sit tight!