Going into Argo, I wasn’t sure whether I should expect a serious political thriller or a light-hearted piece about the CIA constructing a wacky fake film production. Thankfully, Ben Affleck’s latest is a great deal more sensible than its strangely off-kilter trailer suggests.
Set during the Iran hostage crisis, the film tells the story of CIA specialist Tony Mendez and his mission to pull six consulate workers out of the country by constructing an elaborate cover involving the production of a science-fiction film. While Argo makes light of the absurdity of the situation, and thus provides some much needed comic relief, it is at its core an exceptional and taut suspense thriller that builds to a nail-biting conclusion.
The film introduces a great many characters and Affleck wisely refuses to burden himself with the task of fleshing each of them out individually. The hostages themselves are lightly sketched, serving as objects of the mission rather than subjects in their own right. Those involved with the planning of the mission have more to do, and they’re ably portrayed by Alan Arkin, John Goodman, and Bryan Cranston (from Malcolm in the Middle fame, as one insightful audience member helpfully pointed out between tasteful renditions of the Islamic call to prayer).
However, the film centres on Mendez, who is brought to life magnificently by Affleck himself. Even in its lightest passages, it’s the austerity of Affleck’s performance that does more to keep the film focused on serious matters than other less subtle reminders, such as cross-cutting.
As an historical film Argo succeeds admirably in the recreation of its period. Not only is this achieved through appropriate costume work and set dressing but also in the texture of the image itself, which often recalls the 1970s in its colour saturation and visible grain, as well as in various small touches like the charming use of an old Warner Bros ident to open the film. All of this, and the liberal use of archival footage, grounds the film historically and makes it feel very authentic.The film plays with the facts of the case ever so slightly but these changes do little to fundamentally alter the story.
Of greater concern are claims that the portrayal of the Iranian people is unfair. On the contrary, part of what makes Argo so remarkable is its capacity to at once depict the people of Iran as a threat without demonising them. One of the highlights is a scene set in a busy bazaar, (invented for the film). The crowd of Iranian locals is depicted as hostile and dangerous, but a more intimate scene within the crowd reveals an Iranian man who is a direct victim of American meddling. The complaint seems to arise because the film takes a more nuanced view of the situation than a trendy but unthinking anti-Americanism. It maturely outlines the grievances of the Iranian people, and is more than open about the hand America had in causing them. Nor does it shy away from depicting the violent savagery inherent in taking and maltreating innocent hostages to secure the return of a man for public execution.
Argo is both a terrifically exciting, driven, and well-rendered suspense thriller, and an even-handed piece of cinema that tactfully avoids distorting its subject matter to push a political agenda.

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