One of the more fascinating, knotty subplots of the 1979-1981 Iran hostage crisis was the so-called “Canadian Caper.” Unbeknownst to the Islamist revolutionaries who had seized the Iranian government, six American diplomats had escaped capture during the November 4, 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy. The Canadian diplomatic corps concealed these six Americans for weeks, until the fugitives escaped by boarding a Switzerland-bound plane under false passports in January 1980. The getaway was highly publicized at the time, but not as well-remembered today as the Operation Eagle Claw debacle of April 1980 and the ensuing political fallout for President Carter. However, renewed awareness of the Caper was stoked by a 2007 Wired article by Joshuah Bearman, which laid out the formerly-classified story of the CIA’s role in the escape, as well as the bizarre part played by a non-existent science-fiction movie.
It’s not challenging to discern the outlines of a white-knuckle, stranger-than-fiction escape thriller in Bearman’s reporting, and that’s just what director Ben Affleck molds from it in his new feature film, Argo. Affleck stars as CIA extraction maestro Tony Mendez, tasked to devise a credible front for the removal of the six trapped diplomats. Mendez enlists makeup effects wizard and occasional spook John Chambers (John Goodman) and Hollywood producer Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin) to create a borderline-crazy cover story: a location scouting trip for the Persian-tinted Star Wars rip-off, Argo. This necessitates the optioning of a real script, the creation of a dummy production company, and the stoking of the usual Tinseltown hype, down to the obligatory column-inches in Variety. Screenplay and storyboards in hand, Mendez heads to Tehran to rendezvous with the hidden diplomats. Understandably, the frightened Americans are dubious that Mendez’s rushed acting lessons and Hollywood dog-and-pony show for the cultural ministry will enable them to smooth-talk their way out of Iran in just a couple of days.
Argo exhibits Affleck the filmmaker at his most straightforward and self-assured. Gone Baby Gone remains the clear high-water mark of his works in terms of mood and thematic ambition, but Argo’s ever-tightening vice of thrills is nonetheless a pleasing contraption to behold. The film works splendidly when Affleck’s direction and Chris Terrio’s script are focused on realizing the best damn glossy cloak-and-dagger tale they can muster. The result is admittedly pure popcorn fodder, but also completely gratifying, a steel trap with a couple of well-oiled gears nicked from Frankenheimer and Pakula—and many more from Hitchcock and Spielberg. Not everything works: the film’s nods towards liberal globalism lack sincerity and focus, and the fictionalized thriller set-pieces that have been added to the real-world story betray a faint silliness. However, given that Argo’s plot foregrounds the universal appeal of glittery cinematic escapism, it would seem a bit thick-headed to knock the film for indulging in such fantasy, particularly when it’s so deftly executed.
