hero complex

Rating: 10/10 (19 November 2012)

When I was a child I remember playing out in my garden, on my own because the best fantasies are when we are solitary, I would imagine I was in a shootout or crawling through a blizzard something out of a western or Star Wars.
Argo is an excellent film. What about the politics? The message here is that America should get out of Iran in a hurry, this applies to the current political climate although it is set safely enough in the past. Otherwise the opening explanatory sequence which denounces American interference for the sake of oil is balanced by a condescending(racist) approach to Iranian fanaticism, the politics are half-baked and balanced to please as many people as possible but ultimately glorify America, a child's fantasy to please the paternal nation and the President and those good-at-heart fellows at the CIA. What's wrong with this? Nothing really, the intentions seem good enough and Argo is an excellent film...
Argo brings to mind Super 8 by J.J. Abrams. Both films are about movie-making that acts as a vehicle to bravery and heroic actions in the real world to save people (Americans).
If a patriot makes a work of art which is an expression of their beliefs and prejudices is that propaganda? Is Argo as innocent and childlike as it appears to be? Americans love playing dumb, it allows them to keep their cards to their chest and remain under-estimated, a secret to their success because if your enemies regard you with contempt they are liable to slip up on their own superiority complex. Get out of Iran is a good message though, leave other nations and their oil alone is a good idea, not invading people is an honorable proposition.
In Dog Day Afternoon Al Pacino is trapped in the bank he has robbed for a sex change operation for his lover, the audience is breathlessly dragged through his ordeal and its oppressive atmosphere of suspense and tragedy, in Midnight Express Brad Davis is caught in Turkey trying to smuggle hashish back home, his nightmarish imprisonment is a harrowing succession of miseries that make Romero's zombie films seem like a day at Disneyland. The seventies and early eighties were a time for movies which threw us into nightmare situations with an alarming intensity. The danger infused in these films was rooted in the cold-war era, where the instability of the political world was keenly felt by the post-war generation of filmmakers who had seen the horrors of Vietnam rise up in front of their eyes and create a cultural revolution.
Ben Affleck takes the central role in his well-made, involving and highly suspenseful drama. He gives himself a very good part and acts extremely well in it. This is a vanity project of the kind that Warren Beatty and Robert Redford have made in the seventies; low-key acting and serious dramatic subjects. Despite his skill and poise I felt that Chris Messina in a smaller role threatened to steal the show, maybe all this false modesty has a limit and if you keep underplaying for long enough the audience will want something more substantial. An ego trip is a personal affair in the end it pleases you more than anyone else.
The film-making here is excellent - although, however accurately copied, at the beginning the 'seventies' visual tics (framing the actor way off to one side and then the other way round) are a little distracting - the acting is wonderful, the script full of energy and good lines, the music sensitively composed, the editing is particularly good; especially the montage sequence cutting between the preparation of the fake movie and the real events taking place in Iran.
At heart the theme of popular art being a vehicle to saving lives is both the subject of the film and its purpose. Through the drama played out the audience is sensitized to the dangers of profiteering foreign policy and warned against the arrogance of the colonial spirit by spending two hours in virtual house-arrest. Above all at the end we all just want to get home safely and stay home if we can.
Have you ever dreamed that you were trying to catch a plane and that you couldn't manage and the whole thing turned into a nightmare of suspense and tension? Welcome to Argo Airlines!
Compared to Dog Day Afternoon or Midnight Express Argo is a sort of regressive child-like fantasy where we can escape the worst if we put our faith in the good hands of benign Hollywood producers, make-up men and earnest CIA guys who love their sons and country in equal measure.