2012
#145
Starring:
Ben Affleck
Brian Cranston
Alan Arkin
John Goodman
Directed By:
Ben Affleck
2012 Academy Awards
Winner:
Best Picture
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Film Editing
Other Films Nominated:
Amour
Beasts Of The Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Les Miserables
Life Of Pi
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty
So I had intended, had I not found work, to watch all the best picture winners this year, leading up to the most recent winner, Argo. But since August, I've had work, so less time to write. I also took up writing for a Doctor Who fansite, so that took me away as well.
I never realized that we'd chosen to watch this in December, not long after the anniversary of hostage crisis' beginning and not long before the anniversary of it's end.
For those of you not alive then (or like me a baby at the time) - the exiled Shah of Iran was allowed to enter the US because he was dying of cancer and was seeking treatment to better his last days. The Ayatollah Khomeini (the leader of Iran who had taken over after the Shah was exiled) and many others thought the Shah should be brought back to the country to stand trial for crimes against the state.
On November 4, 1979, a number of young extremists took over the US embassy and it's compound and took hostages. Even after the Shah had died, they refused to release those they held. And attempt at rescuing the hostages failed. They were not released until 444 days later, after the Algiers Accords were signed on January 19, 1981, and just minutes after Ronald Reagan was sworn in as the US President.
A small handful - 6 people - managed to get out and with the help of the Canadian, British, and New Zealand consulates, made it back to the US safe and sound, posing as Canadians in a film crew.
The reading of the fake script in contrast to the statement from an Iranians is stark and very effective. A good juxtaposition of the real and the fictional. The use of the real news footage from the period is also effective. In ways it helps make up for the historical inaccuracies and dramatic license taken for the film and really helps set the tone of the movie and draw you into the time period of the movie.
Is it sad though, that one of the things I'll most remember about the film is that the storyboards for the "fake" movie were actually done by THE Jack Kirby when the real movie was trying to get made?
Personally, I do still favor Beasts Of The Southern Wild from this same Oscar race. The imaginative nature of the movie and the performances were just superb. But Argo is the type of movie that can be Oscar bait - the historical drama. And with Beasts being that director's first movie, to be even considered and nominated really is an achievement.
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