Argo (2012)

2012's best picture Oscar winner is the formerly classified true story of a CIA sponsored rescue of six Americans from Iran in 1980. The Americans in question had worked in the passport and visa department of the US embassy in Tehran, which unlike the reset of the embassy compound had a convenient exit onto a lesser used side street. The six Americans attempted to gain refuge with in the British and Australian embassies before finely ending up in the Canadian consulate. As it would only be a matter of time before the Iranians figured out they were missing six yanks from the overrun American embassy, and it would only be possible to keep there presence in the Canadian ambassadors residence secret for a limited time, getting the half dozen U.S. citizens out of the newly christened Islamic Republic of Iran was something of a priority, though not as big a one as you might suspect.

The Canadians eventually forced the issue with the Americans, knowing they would most likely have to close their consulate and recall their ambassador in the near future. Working under a Canadian imposed deadline the Americans had to come up with an exit strategy for the would be hostages. The plan that was eventually settled on seemed an unlikely one, and was classified for some time. The Americans were snuck out of the country by CIA operative Tony Mendez (played by Ben Affleck, who also directed) as members of a Canadian film crew doing location scouting for a science fiction film called "Argo". With the help of some real Hollywood types such as Oscar winning make-up artist John Chambers (John Goodman), the Agency set up an involved cover story around the supposed production of an existing script that had been languishing in "turn around" for some time.

Affleck's move does a good job of capturing its setting, and also does a good job of setting up context with a sort of mini-documentary opening that would make Oliver Stone proud. The cast is fun including as it does Bryan Cranston, Clea DuVall and the great Alan Arkin (always glad to see Alan Arkin). In some sense the story is very, almost disappointingly simple, getting six Americans out of Iran posing as Canadians, and yet in another sense its a real astounding accomplishment, the audacity of it, Canadians scouting for a movie locations in a revolutionary Islamist state, you can only use that one once. I enjoyed the movie, but it didn't knock my socks off, a better then average picture, but not best.  ***1/2