“Argo, fuck yourself” must be the line of the year 2012 because it delivers our day’s philosophy in a nutshell: most of the time, we fuck ourselves or when we get tired of this sport we let others do it for and to us while we nap.
This line was spoken by Alan Arkin’s character, producer Lester Siegel, in Ben Afleck’s masterpiece “Argo,” whose creative process started five years ago. The movie is fantastic because while you know the ending you ignore it to enjoy the journey. The screenplay is smart. Each character is in for its life, less Arkin’s Lester who winks to the well read ironically bent audience and is in it for the fun. And we do have fun. A Karl Marx line is identified as belonging to the other, equally famous Marx, Groucho. Even if you did not know the line or the joke you can still laugh at the names. There is no dull moment in the movie. Nothing is superfluous. It is mass-entertainment at its best: it educates and amuses.
Personally, I wish we had not harbored the fascist Shah, or at least returned him to his people. Perhaps even better, Carter should have asked then Governor Reagan for his CIA connections to free all the American hostages while Carter was still the President.
