Flick of the Day: Argo

The Tehran hostage crisis is one of the darker days of American history, indeed one of many such days in the course of American policy toward Iran before and after the fall of the Shah in 1979. For those unfamiliar, at the height of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, antipathy toward America spilled over as a group of zealous students stormed the embassy taking the staff hostage and threatening to execute them unless the hated Shah was returned to Iran to face trial. The hostage crisis lasted 444 days and directly contributed to the downfall of Jimmy Carter at the 1980 Presidential Election. That's the tale written in the history books however the lesser known story is that on the day the embassy fell six Americans escaped through a back door and sought refuge in the home of the Canadian Ambassador. Today's flick of the day is the story of how those people escaped.

Argo

The film opens with CIA operative Tony Mendez, played by Ben Affleck, being asked to review the State Department's plan for bringing their 6 diplomats out of Tehran under the noses of the Islamic regime as an expert in the area. He is so appalled at the dangerous stupidity and lack of foresight that he offers to come up with a plan at the behest of his boss played by Bryan Cranston. He quickly comes up with the idea of a fake film crew on location to scout for a new movie as a cover story to get the diplomats out. Thankfully the agency already has a contact in Hollywood in the form of John Goodman's make-up artist John Chambers. In an entertaining fashion, Goodman  takes through the ins and outs of the film business. Before long they have hired ageing producer Lester Siegel, played by the great Alan Arkin and are the road to making a film. They buy a low budget sci-fi script called Argo and set up a production company complete with business cards and an office. After a full page spread in Variety and a launch party, Mendez is on on his way to Iran to sneak the diplomats out. The tension begins to build as the full horrors of the revolution are revealed and the subterfuge begins to unravel.

Around the turn of the Noughties, Ben Affleck's career was in disarray after a string of poor films like Jersey Girl, Gigli and Paycheck. However over the last few years, he has matured into one of the most talented young actor/directors in Hollywood. Argo is his third effort as a director and builds on his previously strong work with Gone Baby Gone and The Town. From the get go, the film exudes the style and music of the era, that brief period at the end of the 1970's before the dawn of the Reagan 80's. As Tony and Chambers pass through the gates of a Hollywood studio, the Sultans of Swing by Dire Straits segues in. Everything feels of the era and there are some great stylistic flourishes which reinforce this sense of realism. The hardest part of making a period film like this is being true to the era and Affleck accomplishes this with aplomb.

Of course he is aided by a great script by Chris Terrio that is at times very funny and entertaining as it pokes fun at the fakery of the real Hollywood and at other times deadly serious as the tension mounts in Tehran. This tension is the real joy of the movie, it becomes almost unbearable as the film reaches its dramatic conclusion and I found myself on the edge of my seat at times. Affleck has created another triumph of a film.

                     In this regard, special attention must be made of the various fine performances, not least from Affleck himself. He is blessed with a male cast to die for in Arkin, Goodman and Cranston, some of the best actors working in Hollywood today. The most difficult roles are I think played by the 6 hostages to fortune stuck in Tehran as they are given little more than cursory back stories and they have to really work as actors to make us care about them.

Overall then, this is a very fine film and perhaps Affleck's best and most mature picture to date. I await his next move with interest. This is a definite contender for an Oscar in my mind if only for the near perfect rendition of an era that perhaps America would prefer to forget.

Flick of The Day: Persepolis

I often feel like I am banging a drum, repeating a point of view in films of a similar theme, so do forgive me if this seems repetitious. A couple of weeks back, we looked at Waltz With Bashir, noting how it showed the power of animation to tell important stories that would otherwise not be possible without a vast Hollywood budget. Today's flick of the day, Persepolis is a similarly powerful story told in an artful manner.

Persepolis

Based on the best selling autobiographical graphic novel of the same name by Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis is the tale of a childhood lived under the fundamentalist regime of the Iranian Ayatollahs. Opening with Marjane sitting in the departure lounge of a Paris airport pondering her life, before we see her as 9 year old living in Tehran in 1978, a Bruce Lee fan that dreams of being a prophet. Adored by her grandmother, voice by Catherine Deneuve, Marjane has a unique view of the world around her and is at heart a free spirit. Of course with the fall of the Shah in 1979 and the rise of a religiously strict and intolerant regime, her world is thrown upside down. Marjane, being a teenager rebels against the rigid control of life under the Ayatollahs, listening to Heavy Metal and Punk, wearing denim and openly questioning the lies of her teachers as they cover up for the abuses of the State. Fearing for her safety and hoping to give her freedom to express herself, she is sent to a boarding school in Vienna in 1983. Of course Catholic nuns have never been known for their freedom of expression and Marjane finds herself once again railing against the system. After a series of events, Marjane finds herself sleeping rough for a few months before returning to Tehran in 1987. She attempts to live under the regime, attending University and eventually marrying, but her political dissent in a country where mass executions for political beliefs and petty religious absurdities have become common  place. Ultimately Marjane is forced to leave Iran, perhaps forever but it will always remains in her heart.

Although the film is for the most part shot in a stark black and white animation, it never feels weighed down or depressing despite dealing with subject matter far beyond anything dealt with in your average American animated film. This is perhaps because the animation is warm and familiar, however the use of black and white does give the film an air of oppression throughout. This air wonderfully recreates what life must have been like for a young girl trying to find her feet under a totalitarian regime. The film only takes on colour in the prologue and epilogue, the rest is shot through with this oppressive black and white, tellingly including the Vienna scenes.  This could become tiresome quite quickly and make the film unwatchable given the subject matter however it is saved by two things, stunningly beautiful visual invention and great storytelling. It is playful and beauty is found in even the darkest of scenes. The storytelling aspect is that humour is used throughout to leaven proceedings.

I remember I led a peaceful, uneventful life as a little girl. I loved fries with ketchup, Bruce Lee was my hero, I wore Adidas sneakers and had two obsessions: Shaving my legs one day and being the last prophet of the galaxy.

This is what film making is supposed to be about and anyone willing to get past the idea that animation is for entertaining young children and should thus be easily enjoyed, will find much to enjoy here. It is also a must see for anyone with even a passing interest in middle eastern history of the late 20th Century.