Argo is a story that would have interested Costa-Gavras and Oliver Stone for its political ambivalence. An excellent double feature with Spielberg's "Munich", Ben Affleck's film takes a historical event and brings it to our attention in 2012 when the US is still struggling with its foreign participation while keeping the in-country morale up in times of crisis.
Affleck sets up the back story at the beginning, so that the rest of the story won't look like a bunch of heroes saving Americans from the bad guys. It clearly puts on the table The US involvement in a convoluted country and how it comes back to haunt them.
In the face of a possible universal bad image, The White House "unconsciouly" greenlights a surreal plan to create the illusion of a movie production to be shot in Iran, which will help bring 6 of the American hostages back to freedom, where they can have "alcoholic beverages".
In comes the common American, embodied by Ben Affleck, who masterminds, prepares and puts the plan into action. Of course, we all know what's gonna happen, not only because this is a historical account, but also because it is a convention of this kind of films, which takes us to the core of Argo: how the artifice of movies can influence life.
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