Argo – the script that changed the lives of 6 Americans!

I don’t think I ever thought that much of Ben Affleck as an actor.  Before Argo I think I considered him to be either a standard actor jock or pretty boring.   While his childhood friend Matt Damon has gone from strength to strength over the years, poor old Benno has seemed to struggle from one bad script to another.  That was until he acted, produced and directed ‘Argo’.   I have a brand new respect for the guy!  While I don’t think he suits scruffy hair and a scruffy beard, his role in the recent movie Argo is in my opinion going to shoot him into Hollywood’s elite list of fame.   Although what would I know I am merely a writer – a blogger, in fact.

So, here I am still thinking about the movie ‘Argo’ 3 days after seeing the movie and I am still in awe of the magnitude of what the American C.I.S.  had to do to get the 6 American’s out of Iran back in 1979-1981.

Six Americans working at the American embassy escaped the embassy after thousands of angry protesting men and women stormed into the embassy capturing the Americans who had made their lives there.  Part of their job was to help families move to the United States.  It was not known at that time that their were 6 American’s who escaped.   According to the movie, they knocked on many doors before the Canadian Embassy agreed to help them.

I can’t imagine the fear and the anguish that the six must have felt – let alone the American’s who were captured.   The movie focused on the six who escaped and prayed for a way back home to the States.   It is believed that those who were captured were physically beaten and some were publicly hung in the streets of Iran.

The Americans working at the Embassy were tried, and sentenced as International Spies.  It seemed that the people did not want to work with  the Americans or see reason.

I won’t say that it is or it isn’t a better place now 30 years on, but I personally have no desire to holiday or visit Iran or any country in the vicinity.   Don’t get me wrong, bad things happen to good people all over the world – but I am a proud scaredy cat – and I have no desire at all to ever visit such countries.

Ben’s character takes you on an incredible journey through the process of operation: ARGO.  The best fake movie of all time.  The  difficulty was that Affleck’s character had to come up with a plausible reason for why he and 6 men and women would be travelling throughout Iran in an incredibly turbulent social climate – without alerting the rogue authorities.

I thought it was incredible that even though the men and women working at the embassy were able to shred much of the classified files before being captured, the Iran authorities had men, women and children piecing the shredded material onto boards so that they could identify any information that they could about the Americans.  It was at this time they discovered that there were 6 Americans missing.  The hunt for the six was now in full swing.

It was Dion’s turn to choose a movie.   I felt as though I was being forced to see a movie I really did not want to see.  But after the first 10 minutes – I was hooked.  I love movies that are fast moving, but are based on a true story.   Ultimately Affleck’s character is the hero of the story.  He had the weight of  the world – and the feeling of responsibility to help these young people out of Iran was his number one priority at that time in history.

I know this is going to sound  strange to some, but as I look around my environment I am more thankful today than I was on Sunday morning before I watched Argo.   Us Aussies love our country –  We really love our people!   There may be political issues that need dealing with, but the Aussie hand always seems outstretched to help the many who are less fortunate than us.    Ultimately the year was 1979, but even though 30 years has passed, we have more boat people escaping their countries to come and illegally live in Australia.   Why do they risk their lives to come, and their families lives?  The answer is simple.  They come because the idea of being locked up as a prisoner here in Australia is much better than the life they and their families would have to live or endure in their home country.     How sad is that?!

While this is not a political piece on my thoughts regarding my beliefs in our system.   Our system is what it is, and it really doesn’t matter whether we agree or disagree with our policies – the boat people still come because they honestly believe they are going to have a better life here in Australia.

The movie Argo introduced me to the world of Iran. Yes it was 30 years ago, but because I don’t know if attitudes toward us Westerners have changed or not – I have no desire to visit to find out.   I feel for those who live their lives conservatively there, but from what I understand the people live their lives under the laws if Islamic law, and while I don’t exactly understand what this means at the moment I have to wonder if the hatred for the Western World is as potent as it was in 1979, and what is it like for women in Iran?   I am curious as to how their social laws work, specifically in relation to what is it like for women in Iran – but that is a whole other blog post.

I sat on the edge of my seat hoping that Affleck and the six Americans made it out of Iran.  Those final scenes were touch and go, but there was much relief when the plane taxied on the runway and up into the sky.  I don’t think anyone in the cinema breathed until they were in the International Airspace.   Who knows how much of that stress was ‘movie magic’ but it doesn’t matter.  What matters is that the movie script Argo was successful, the Americans who were captured and survived were also brought back to America and while there is still issues between the East and the West, we hope that the hatred can one day subside.