Film Review

After militants seize control of the U.S. embassy in Tehran during the Iranian Revolution, CIA agent Tony Mendez played by Ben Affleck is sent in to rescue a group of American diplomats that have sought refuge at the home of the Canadian ambassador.  In order to create tension throughout the film Ben Affleck who also directs the movie puts together the film meticulously.  Inserting real news footage from the time period as seen throughout the film on 1970 style televisions, this adds a sense of danger to every stage of the CIA exfiltration operation.  In the early part of the film the audience see hordes of angry Iranian revolutionaries, men hanging from cranes and women with automatic rifles. Moving forward the same horde of revolutionaries is seen storming the American embassy creating a nail-biting experience throughout the entire film.

            The cast is crafted smartly to add more tension to film. As seen by the character Sahar played by actress Shiela Vand, she is a housekeeper at the Canadian embassy.  She herself is Iranian and there is no escape for her.  Placed in a difficult situation she is caught between telling the Iranian soldiers that the diplomats are being held at the Canadian compound or assist in hiding them and risking her own life.

Throughout the film one will noticed that the lighting was pretty consistent across different shooting locations.  This element was very creative due to the fact that the production was shot in Turkey and some in southern California.  It helps add to the realism of the film especially in scenes such as the open-air market in downtown Tehran as the Americans posing as a film crew walk-about with the locals. As of the note the low light setting contributes to the graininess of film adding more realism and dramatic effect throughout the film.

Editing within the film was done well as noted in the airplane scenes of the landing and takeoff at the Tehran International Airport. As the plane is landing the white cap mountains surrounding the city of Tehran are captured given the location a cold and unwelcoming feel.

Additionally the wide angel shot taken in the Istanbul mosque creates the feel of a Mediterranean atmosphere.

Audio realism was critical in the film Argo as it definitely added to the tension and pressure that the characters were under from the start of the film to the end.  In particular within the scenes in Tehran there always seem to be a very aggressive-style mix of music or sound with rawness and edginess.  This allowed for the audience and the characters to never forget that they were in a foreign country in hiding. Ben Affleck made good use of the offstage sounds such as gunshots due to the revolution going on at the time and the calls-to-prayer in Farsi.

Reference  

Argo. Dir. Ben Affleck. Perf. Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, John Goodman, Chris Messina. Warner Bros, 2012. Film.

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