December 14, 2012
December 14, 2012
After renting dozens of movies lately, Aimee and I were beginning to believe Hollywood no longer made films worth watching. Much to my pleasant surprise we went to the movies twice this last month and saw two great ones; Argo and Lincoln. What I find fascinating is that both films were historical accounts where we knew the ending. Despite the lack of real surprise, both movies were so well made that we were on pins and needles to learn the outcome of each film.
Argo was about the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis. A small group of Americans avoided capture that first day and hid out in the Canadian embassy. Incredibly they were rescued by a CIA agent who hatched an impossible scheme. He flew to Iran, picked them up in a mini-van, and they all pretended to scout potential locations for a fictitious Hollywood sci-fi movie. Incredibly they all flew out on a commercial flight. The story is too crazy to make up.
Lincoln on the other hand takes place in 1865 near the end of the Civil War and focuses on the passage of the 13th amendment outlawing slavery. History only records the moment as a passing fact like it was a foregone conclusion. That couldn’t have been farther from the truth. Lincoln apparently did a lot of ugly political horse-trading to overcome stiff Democrat resistance to the bill. While the amendment is the central story, the true theme running in the background is the leadership of Lincoln and all the critical decisions he had to make and the stress he had to endure while President during a Civil War. It would have killed a lesser man. Yet he endured and didn’t lose hope even while his personal life was also in chaos. Oh to have a president today with a fraction of Lincoln’s talent!
Argo was about the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis. A small group of Americans avoided capture that first day and hid out in the Canadian embassy. Incredibly they were rescued by a CIA agent who hatched an impossible scheme. He flew to Iran, picked them up in a mini-van, and they all pretended to scout potential locations for a fictitious Hollywood sci-fi movie. Incredibly they all flew out on a commercial flight. The story is too crazy to make up.
Lincoln on the other hand takes place in 1865 near the end of the Civil War and focuses on the passage of the 13th amendment outlawing slavery. History only records the moment as a passing fact like it was a foregone conclusion. That couldn’t have been farther from the truth. Lincoln apparently did a lot of ugly political horse-trading to overcome stiff Democrat resistance to the bill. While the amendment is the central story, the true theme running in the background is the leadership of Lincoln and all the critical decisions he had to make and the stress he had to endure while President during a Civil War. It would have killed a lesser man. Yet he endured and didn’t lose hope even while his personal life was also in chaos. Oh to have a president today with a fraction of Lincoln’s talent!
posted by Mike and Aimee at 8:33 PM
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