I liked how tense this film was, and how it reminded us of the six people who escaped the U. S Embassy when it was stormed by Iranian revolutionaries, resulting in the hostage crisis that lasted over 14 months. Embellishing history (more on this later), Ben Affleck tells the story of how these six escaped by pretending to be part of a film project just a few months into the crisis. At the outset of the film, to his credit, he helps us understand where some of the anger towards America came from, notably, the U. S./U. K. instigated overthrow of democratically elected Mohammad Mosaddegh, the 26 years of rule under the corrupt Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and the harboring of the Shah after he was overthrown.

Unfortunately, by the time the film ended, it felt like it had devolved relative to historical accuracy, playing up American exceptionalism and an Us vs. Them mentality, and it also devolved relative to storytelling, with the invented drama through the airport and many last-second close calls getting the full Hollywood treatment. It's really kind of a shame, because the real story is so compelling. The film significantly downplayed the role of American allies in this operation, most notably Canada, who deserve the lion's share of coming up with and executing the plan, not the CIA, and also Great Britain and New Zealand. It's also guilty of portraying a nearly monolithic view of Iranians as enraged terrorists, as time and again we see anger and hostility that isn't even subtitled, playing up on stereotypes.

I think the film tried to represent where the anger was coming from in the market scene, where a man tries to attack the Americans, telling them that the Shah had tortured his son, but a calmer scene here or elsewhere would have offered at least a little glimpse of humanism. One could argue, I suppose, that this is what it felt like to be trapped in Tehran during the tumult, and there was certainly a lot of vitriol directed against the "Great Satan" at this time. There is also a housekeeper who is shown to risk her own life to save others, but it's a very small role, and felt like a token. It's really too bad the film didn't offer some other Iranian perspective instead of the Hollywood roles, those played by John Goodman and Alan Arkin, which seemed like throwaways to me (though were in there for levity). It's also too bad the film didn't circle back more on some of the history mentioned in the introduction, instead of focusing everything on the patriotic homecoming, complete with flag waiving in the background.

As for the depiction of Americans, aside from overly heroic lead character, it's a mixed bag. We get the nauseating quote "John Wayne in the ground 6 months and this is what is left of America," which while reflecting the growing feeling at this time that certainly led to the disastrous Reagan years, was also voiced by one of the "good guys," and unironically. There's a scene showing Americans beating up an Iranian American in a crowd, though it's brief, and we get the feeling that it's an aberration, long forgotten by the end. I did like how the film acknowledged Jimmy Carter, whose handling of this crisis and overall Presidency have long been underrated. I also liked the film's attempts to get the look of the people right, and the side by side photos of movie vs. Reality in the credit roll.

I liked Argo for its drama and entertainment value, and how it provided a springboard to read up on history. I think it made some attempts at being balanced, but they were pretty weak, and it fell into cliches in trying to appeal to the mass market. Commercially it was thus a big success, but artistically it falls short, and it's hard to fathom how it won so many Oscars.