Affleck shouldn't have taken that directorial victory lap at the end of the film, showing how much his characters looked like the real people depicted, given how much his movie in fact diverted from the facts. If you haven't done so already, read the fascinating 2007 Wired story which goes through the historical fact, or at least this Slate piece which covers the key departures. In short:
- There was no live, costumed script reading before the trip to Iran.
- There was no scouting trip to the bazaar.
- The CIA didn't pull back permission at nearly the last minute, and no one had to call Hamilton Jordan by using his daughters' school as a ruse. The tickets were purchased in advance, and I would question whether, in 1980, an airport's reservation system would have been computerized like that in the first place.
- Indeed, there were no real problems at the airport at all.
I have no problem with Affleck choosing to spice up an already-spicy reality to conform better to mainstream movie expectations and give it a more exciting third act, but you can't manipulate the story this much and then brag about how close you got it. That's cheating. (But it's a really fun movie.)
According to an interview I heard with Affleck recently, he put the bits in at the end to prove that the people existed at all - afraid people (as in, "people under 30") wouldn't believe the story happened in any way, shape, form, or fashion.
ReplyDeleteIf I was going to cut anything it'd be the entire Affleck/wife/kid plot - if I want to see "The Angst of the Distant Parent in the 70s/80s" I'll watch Kramer vs Kramer or Ordinary People. (No, I won't - once was enough for both those.)
I saw the pictures as mostly a hat tip to the casting director and makeup and hair people.
ReplyDeleteAnd while I mostly agree with you on the Estranged Husband subplot, it probably spared us from a rushed and unbelievable romance with one of the hostages (or the housekeeper.)
And that seems to have been fictional too.
ReplyDeleteOne other gratuitous add-on: the shirtless Affleck shot.
Right. But I'm not complaining about that.
ReplyDeleteIn the grand scheme of things, and particularly in a movie with a plot this outlandish, those are pretty minor departures.
ReplyDeleteYou didn't find the whole "OMG they have to update the reservation on the computer!" "OMG they're going to question them at the gate!" "OMG they're chasing them down the tarmac!" to be a bit much -- if Affleck wanted to tout the authenticity?
ReplyDeleteIt's a movie. If your movie's tension is all front-loaded and you spend the second half just playing out the inevitable conclusion, you have a structural problem (see Flight). Affleck made the reasonable decision that the story worked better as a movie with tension at the end as well. Affleck could argue that the fake conflict is necessary to get across the point of the real anxiety the hostages must have had at the time -- absent the fake tension, an audience with knowledge of the historical result might mistake smooth and uneventful execution of the extraction for safe and dull.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I'm not being clear: I'm fine with all of that from a filmmaking perspective. It made for a better movie than the facts would have otherwise. I just don't think you can take the victory lap with the credits photo montage once you've made that departure, though I would let him still use the Carter audio.
ReplyDeleteI had the same reaction you did, Adam, although I may disagree more with Isaac. I actually think the movie could have worked fine without a lot of the airport drama. If they had left it with the guards being skeptical and the reluctant consulate guy stepping in and enchanting them with the story, such that they were allowed to pass, I think that would have done it and been sufficiently dramatic without seeming quite so over-the-top. But, like Adam, I also liked the movie very much, notwithstanding the over-dramatization.
ReplyDeleteMy husband for one didn't believe this could be true until he looked it up on his smartphone on the walk home from the movie. He just didn't think that a plan like this would work, and although he knew about the Iran hostages, he didn't know any of them got out early. He was born in 1980.
ReplyDeleteI had a friend in grade school who had cerebral palsy and was confined to a motorized wheelchair. He loved his 2-XL and for Halloween in fourth grade, his parents built him a five foot tall 2-XL out of plywood that fit seemlessly over his wheelchair. It was utterly epic.
ReplyDeleteSo you would agree with some departure from the facts but just disagree on how much departure was warranted. Fair opinion, though I'll give Affleck the benefit of the doubt on knowing where the sweet spot was for the largest portion of the audience. I'd rather he errs on the side of "too exciting" than "too boring." On the montage at the end, I liked it. Throughout the movie, I thought the story seemed so implausible that I assumed that it bore only a tenuous connection to reality, and that characters like the makeup guy (Goodman) and the producer were complete fabrications. The montage told me that the movie was truer than I had thought, which was valuable.
ReplyDeleteI can't claim that my sample reflects the average movie-goer, but most folks I've spoken with shared the general "too much drama" view. But whatever -- as a movie, it was a lot of fun. I'm the guy who likes "JFK" and tells skeptics to just treat it like a complete fabrication and enjoy the ride.
ReplyDeleteAdam, are you suggesting that Tony Mendez never took his shirt off during that entire operation? :)
ReplyDeleteTo threadjack a little, any possibility of opening a thread to talk about last night's crazy bananas episode of Homeland?
ReplyDeleteBecause I am forever ruining others' joy, I will point out that, if the final scene with Tony and his family took place early in 1980 (right after the escape, which was in late January), then there should not have been a Boba Fett in his son's bedroom - Empire came out in May of that year.
ReplyDeleteThe first Boba Fett action figure came out in 1979, a year after the character's introduction in the Holiday Special; this was the one with the working missile launching rocket pack on the back that forced it be recalled later on.
ReplyDeleteNo! Boba Fett action figures started coming out in 1979! http://www.squidoo.com/vintage-boba-fett
ReplyDeleteJinx!
ReplyDelete