Feel like a movie this week?
Go and see Argo.
Set between 1979 and 1981 when the Iran Hostage Crisis of the American Embassy captured the newsreels of the world, Argo tells the since declassified true story of how US intelligence agencies worked to get 6 escaped hostages out of the country.
Realising that options for getting Americans out of Iran unnoticed in those days were extremely limited, they devised a fake movie and pretended to be the movie crew scouting for filming locations in Iran.
I went having no idea of the outcome and I was kept in complete suspense until the final scenes. It is tense, riveting, and yet very funny at times.
It is a bit violent at points, the opening scenes are the most confronting, showing the angry crowd gathering at the American Embassy and then breaking into the grounds. It does have excessive swearing throughout, which was probably unnecessary. However the story is so well told and the insight into an episode of history is so good, that it didn't matter.
Throughout the movie and in the final credits, when they show real footage of the time, it suddenly became clear to me why the whole setting (the hostage crisis) seemed strangely familiar. Then it clicked, we lived in the US at that time. Yes, I was only a pre-schooler but it stirred vague memories of news reports and that something major was going on. I think I even remember some of the footage, having never seen it since. Goes to show how some things can remain in your memory without you even realising it.
If you want to see an intelligent, adult movie - go to this one, you won't be disappointed.
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