‘Argo’ Wins Best Picture at the 2013 Oscars
'Argo' was named Best Picture at the 2013 Oscars this Sunday.
Ben Affleck's 'Argo' premiered at the Toronto Film Festival where it was immediately touted as a Oscar frontrunner and in the past few months, held strong winning both the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture, Drama and the Best Picture award at the BAFTAs. This despite Affleck not even being nominated for Best Director at this year's Oscars. (Only three other films have won Best Picture without their director being nominated, the last being 1989's 'Driving Miss Daisy.')
In addition to being a critical success, 'Argo' also grossed over $120 million at the box office so far.
It was a hotly contested Best Picture race this year but 'Argo' wound up beating out competitors 'Amour,' 'Django Unchained,' 'Life of Pi,' 'Lincoln,' 'Les Miserables,' 'Silver Linings Playbook,' 'Zero Dark Thirty' and 'Beasts of the Southern Wild.'
Based on true events, 'Argo' chronicles the life-or-death covert operation to rescue six Americans, which unfolded behind the scenes of the Iran hostage crisis—the truth of which was unknown by the public for decades. On November 4, 1979, as the Iranian revolution reaches its boiling point, militants storm the U.S. embassy in Tehran, taking 52 Americans hostage. But, in the midst of the chaos, six Americans manage to slip away and find refuge in the home of the Canadian ambassador. Knowing it is only a matter of time before the six are found out and likely killed, a CIA “exfiltration” specialist named Tony Mendez (Affleck) comes up with a risky plan to get them safely out of the country. A plan so incredible, it could only happen in the movies.