Argo

The spouse and I saw "Argo" last weekend. It's an excellent film, well acted, well directed and worth seeing. But throughout the flick, the Growler kept wondering -- has Ben Affleck lost his mind? (Affleck, like most Hollywoodenheads is an ardent supporter of President Obama and is doing everything he can to get him reelected).  

So why would Affleck make--and the studio release--a month before the election -- a film that shows that nothing much has changed in Middle East in the 33 years since the "students" stormed the American embassy and took 52 Americans hostage for 444 days except that the Muslims have ratcheted up the violence and now instead of taking the Ambassador hostage (in Libya), they murdered him and three others and burned the place down.  

Did Mr. Affleck watch the movie before he released it? Did he really think it would benefit his and Ho'wood's cause to remind Americans three weeks before a tight election of the harm done when we have a feckless and naive Democrat  in the White House? 

"Argo" begins with the usual Hollywood disclaimer that the Iranian Revolution was really America's fault. Apparently, the Ayatollah Khoumeini was just standing there when the shi'ites hit the fan. According to Wikipedia, the Brits and the US, more specifically Churchill and dear old Ike, orchestrated a coup d'etat on August 19, 1953, threw out the democratically elected Iranian president, Mohammed Mosaddegh, and installed the Shah. Mr. Affleck's prologue didn't comment on why it took the Iranians 26 years to react to this insult to their national sovereignty or, for that matter, why the British Embassy wasn't stormed, too, but hey, let's not quibble about a quarter of a century.

Once Mr. Affleck got through with the obligatory America-bashing, he set out to tell a very good story and make a very good movie. He didn't sugar coat the violence done to the Americans and Iranians who had supported the Shah--including a very graphic scene of a man who'd been hanged in the street and left there. History relates that the CIA with the help of Canada got six people out, so the ending was known before the film began. That Mr. Affleck was able to keep the suspense so tight is a tribute to his talent as a director. But still, what was he thinking? Shouldn't he have waited until after the election to remind us what happens when Americans elect an apologist and appeaser in chief?