ARGO blog post

The movie Argo is based a true story of Americans held hostage in Iran. There are quite of few dramatic scenes in the movie, especially towards the end; involving the Swissair flight taking off. This is a pretty remarkable scene. The director builds suspense by almost using stop motion to show the different aspects of the event.

            The suspense starts at the beginning of the movie but really escalates at the beginning of that scene; when they are showing their passports at the airport. They first have their passports examined by security before having to go to secondary inspection. While there, they show their idea for a movie through a series of comics. The anger that’s portrayed in that scene builds the suspense – because although the film is going to end well – but it’s filmed in a way that makes it seem uncertain. 

            They eventually are let through but it only gets more intense after that. More suspense is built when the boarding of the plane begins, the phone gets pick up at the last second and they’re ultimately approved to board the flight. The next scene shows the Americans getting on a shuttle to the plane and at the same time are being chased by Iranians and ultimately cop cars and military trucks. The plane seems to take forever to take off and when the vehicles are chasing the flight down for a minute it feels like they might not get away.

            This scene is more or less the climax of the movie. The first ¾’s of the movie builds up to their departure. They don’t truly know they’re safe until they’re in the air and the flight attendant announces alcohol could be served. Their goal of trying to pass off as a movie crew in order to leave the country eventually worked.