Last week, in the Oscars ceremony
held at the Dolby theater, Los Angeles, the movie “Argo” walked away triumphant
with the Best Picture award.
I couldn’t agree more, Though
some argued that “Argo” was not the best that Movies can provide, especially
when compared with the highly praised movie “Lincoln”, I would argue that “Argo”
had won, not because of a brilliant cinematography or an outstanding
performance from the actors or even for dazzling eye popping special effects, matter
of fact, the Movie seemed rather David-esque compared to the almost perfect “Lincoln”,
but “Argo” had something else that made it nail the top prize; it was a movie
celebrating creativity.
The movie is loosely based on a
true story that happened back in 1979 In Tehran, when the American embassy was
stormed and six staffers escape through the back of the building and took
refuge in the Canadian Ambassador’s residence. The task of getting them out of
the country was handled by the C.I.A where various plans have been presented,
the most credible being getting the hostages out of Mounty Iran on bikes, Tony
Mendez, an officer who worked in the Technical services Office came with
another idea; how about having the hostages disguised as a fake crew shooting a
fake movie? The Administration decides to go with Mendez’s Idea because “It is
the best bad idea that we have.”
After Seeing the Movie I wondered
how many Tony Mendez do we have working in Egypt. I think about the ongoing
Political, Economic and Security problems and I wonder why nobody came with an
Argo-esque idea to get anything done. Instead, the ideas that comes out not
only do they lack imagination, but also seem to be more the kind of “get them out
of rocky Iran on bikes” idea!
Clashes around the Ministry of
Interior’s Headquarters as a screaming example, they reoccur every month or so
and nobody thought of a anything but to place blocks and barriers of stones on
the nearby streets that have the successful effect of only provoking the mobs,
I wonder what Tony Mendez would’ve
thought? Maybe Grow trees instead? Build a kids park around the Place and make
it impossible for anyone to pass through? Ridiculous ideas? Probably so, but
then again ideas like this might be indeed “the best bad idea that we have”.
Hashem Fouad
Cairo, 04 March 2013
