'Coup 53': Amirani Media / 'Desert One': Greenwich Entertainment
AWARDS BEAT
At a time when American moviegoers’ concerns are firmly focused on domestic issues, or on international players like Russia and China, it may seem odd to have two documentaries come out in the same week about events that happened decades ago in Iran. But Taghi Amirani’s “Coup 53” and Barbara Kopple’s “Desert One,” which open in select markets and in virtual cinemas on Aug. 21, have something to say about our current predicament even as they delve deeply into past collisions between the West and the Islamic world.
The films are set decades apart, Amirani’s in 1953 and Kopple’s in 1980. But they are inextricably linked, because the coup that overthrew the democratically-elected prime minister and strengthened the rule of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran, in 1953 led inexorably to the Islamic revolution that toppled the Shah in 1979 and led to Iranian college students taking U.S. diplomats and citizens hostage in the American Embassy in Tehran.
And that act, along with the failed 1980 rescue attempt detailed in Kopple’s movie, directly led to the tensions that now exist between the U.S. and the Islamic world – while Stateside, they virtually assured the election of Ronald Reagan, which you could argue led to a rise of the same kind of populist conservatism that would eventually bring us Donald Trump.
“Coup 53” and “Desert One” both deal with those connections in a glancing manner, but their focus is on detailed examinations of crucial events in the troubled history between Iran and the West. “Coup 53” is the flashier of the two, spending much of its first hour not so much documenting the story of the coup as documenting Amirani’s attempt to uncover and tell that story. For its opening stretches, the film stays with the director as he pores through documents, interviews people and hypes up “evidence that has the potential to turn a dark chapter in history inside out.”
The smoking gun, it turns out, comes in the archives of a British documentary series called “End of Empire,” which devoted an episode to the 1953 coup that pushed out Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, who’d threatened to nationalize the Iranian oil industry (which was then generating a whole lot of money for the U.K., but not much for Iran). In those archives was a lengthy interview with an MI6 operative named Norman Darbyshire, who detailed the extent of Britain’s involvement in the coup. (The CIA long ago took responsibility for the American involvement, but Great Britain hadn’t done so.)
But Darbyshire himself was completely left out of the “End of Empire” broadcast, and the footage of his interview had completely vanished. So in the movie’s boldest stroke, Amirani enlisted actor Ralph Fiennes to play Darbyshire in a reenactment of the original interview that stuck strictly to the original transcript.
It’s a wonderful but disconcerting conceit, because Fiennes is not only the sole fake interview subject in the film, he’s the most persuasive one. At the point where he’s introduced, the movie is a twisty, adventurous pleasure, detailing how two Western powers toppled a democratic regime in favor of an autocratic monarchy because they could make more money from the monarchy. But over its final hour, Fiennes becomes just one more talking head in a painstaking blow-by-blow reconstruction of the coup; as the movie turns more conventional, it struggles to retain the freshness it once had.
But with legendary film editor Walter Murch (“Apocalypse Now,” “The English Patient”) on hand as editor and co-writer, “Coup 53” always tells a complex story clearly. And when it flashes forward to 1979, when the Iranian people finally overthrew the dictator that the U.S. and U.K. had placed in power almost three decades earlier, the consequences of the coup reverberate in vivid and dark ways.
That’s where Barbara Kopple picks up the story with “Desert One.” Her film flashes back to the 1953 coup to set up its story, but then it sinks into the events of 1979 and 1980, when students emboldened by the Islamic Revolution stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took 52 Americans hostage. The film focuses on a tragic event five months into what would be a 444-day captivity, when an American military attempt to rescue the hostages resulted in eight deaths at a desert refueling base named Desert One.
Unlike Amirani, Kopple isn’t interesting in getting playful with the documentary form; best-known for her Oscar-winning cinema verité films “Harlan County, USA” and “American Dream,” she is an impeccable documentarian who’s there to tell a story, not to fool with the form. “Desert One” is built around archival footage, animated sequences from Iranian artist Zartosht Soltani and new interviews with American soldiers, military leaders, hostages, hostage-takers, former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and President Jimmy Carter.
Exhaustive and detailed, the film lays out the risky plan, which involved a rendezvous at the Desert One base in the middle of the night, followed by the soldiers flying eight helicopters into Tehran, landing next to the embassy, breaking through the wall and storming in to rescue the hostages. But Operation Eagle Claw didn’t make it past the rendezvous, where dust storms and mechanical problems disabled so many helicopters that the mission was aborted – and during refueling, one helicopter crashed into a tanker aircraft, killing eight servicemen.
The film includes previously-unheard audiotapes of an indecisive Carter hearing the increasingly bad news. It is the blow-by-blow account of an American failure, one that made the U.S. look feeble and all but ensured that the seemingly indecisive Carter would be defeated by the blustery and hawkish Ronald Reagan in the 1980 election.
You might call the movie the anti-“Argo,” scrupulously telling a story of a disaster where Ben Affleck’s Oscar-winning movie dramatized an earlier, successful mission that smuggled six Americans out of Iran. Originally made for the cable channel History, it gives you the details from a variety of perspectives, from the leaders who sent me to their deaths to the Iranians who rejoiced at the U.S. failure.
Commendably inclusive, “Desert One” is still one of Kopple’s most conventional documentaries – and it’s one that, like “Coup 53,” occasionally bogs down in details. But in both films, those are details that helped shape the world we live in today, and details worth knowing.
All 19 Movies and Shows Steve Bannon Wrote, Directed or Produced (Photos)
Before he had the ear of the president, former White House Chief Political Strategist Steve Bannon tried his hand at Hollywood. As a producer, he was behind several small movies, but he really hit his movie-making stride writing and directing conservative documentaries aimed at Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Here's a complete list of every Hollywood project in which Bannon's had a hand.
“The Indian Runner” (1991) — Executive Producer Bannon’s first movie as an executive producer was, somewhat ironically, written and directed by famous Trump critic Sean Penn. “The Indian Runner” starred Viggo Mortensen and David Morse as brothers on the opposite sides of the law. Here’s the trailer.
MGM
"Seinfeld" (1992) — Investor Bannon's investment banking company bought a minor stake in Castle Rock Entertainment, the producer behind the show, in 1992. That gave Bannon's company an undisclosed chunk of the syndication royalties for the show. By 2013, "Seinfeld" reruns had earned $3.1 billion. Even if Bannon only had a 1% cut of the royalties, "Seinfeld" would have netted him $31 million.
NBC
"Titus" (1999) — Co-Executive Producer Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange star in this modern-styled adaptation of the Shakespeare “Titus Andronicus.” That story packs an interesting mix of 1950s aesthetics and ancient Roman subject matter. Bannon served as co-executive producer on the project, the production of which was his obsession for almost a decade. Watch the trailer here.
Fox
“Reagan: In the Face of Evil” (2004) — Co-Producer Bannon wrote and directed this documentary, based on the book “Reagan’s War” by Peter Schweizer. It’s heavily conservative and positive about the former Republican president, focusing on his Cold War battle with the Soviet Union. It also holds a fairly abysmal 11 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Watch the trailer here.
Citizens United
“Border War: The Battle Over Illegal Immigration” (2006) — Executive Producer Bannon’s got a lot of interest in illegal immigration. “Border War” expands its look on illegal immigrants coming from Mexico, trying to include everything from human smuggling and crime to protests and immigration laws. Watch the trailer here.
Citizens United
“Tradition Never Graduates: A Season Inside Notre Dame Football” (2007) — Executive Producer For the first time since he was producing Shakespeare, Bannon’s filmography takes a break from conservative-leaning movies to talk about how great Notre Dame football is.
Vimeo
“The Chaos Experiment” (2009) — Executive Producer Obviously the best way to improve a “Saw”-style serial killer thriller is with a heavy handed anti-global warming message. Val Kilmer is a deranged global warming scientist who no one will believe. So he locks six people in a steam room to simulate what global warming will eventually do to the world. Watch the trailer here.
YouTube
“Generation Zero” (2010) — Writer, Director, Producer More than one critic called Bannon's documentary “Generation Zero” a “horror movie” about the US economy. Bannon explains the economic crash of 2008 by blaming the national deficit and bank bailouts, as well as the 1960s and the Baby Boomer generation. But really, this is about the rise of the Tea Party. Watch the trailer here.
Citizens United
“Battle for America” (2010) — Writer, Director, Producer Bannon tried to get out the conservative vote for the 2010 midterm elections by painting it as a war against the Obama Administration in this documentary. It's kind of hilarious listening to some of the conservative comments about the radical Obama presidency in the face of Trump's first seven weeks in office. Watch the trailer here.
Citizens United
"Fire from the Heartland" (2010) — Writer, Director, Producer Focusing on women in American conservatism, "Fire from the Heartland" paints the picture of a powerful American cultural movement that draws strength from women's issues. The movie posits that angry "Mama Grizzly" conservative women are the unforeseen side-effect of feminism in America. Watch the trailer here.
Citizens United
"Sarah Palin: The Undefeated" (2010) "The Undefeated" chronicles Sarah Palin's rise in battling the Republican establishment and the liberal media. Bannon's doc explores her life and history as a politician, painting her as a warrior who went up against special interests and corruption as she rose from Alaska to the national stage. Watch the trailer here.
Citizens United
“The Hope & the Change” (2012) — Writer, Director, Producer Democrats are disillusioned because of Barack Obama, Bannon works to show in this documentary. Interviewing something like 40 Democrats and Independents, the movie finds people who never got the Hope and Change they were promised. Watch the trailer here.
Citizens United
“District of Corruption” (2012) — Writer, Director, Producer Before he was part of the Trump Administration and the constant allegations of corruption it weathers, Bannon made this doc hammering the Obama Administration with claims of corruption. Bannon wrote and directed this one, working with conservative watch dog group Judicial Watch. Check out the trailer here.
Citizens United
“Occupy Unmasked” (2012) — Writer, Director Bannon's documentaries have shown the Tea Party in a positive light, and in "Occupy Unmasked," he goes after a liberal movement. The movie portrays Occupy as radical, uncontrollable, and dangerous. Watch the trailer here.
Citizens United
“Sweetwater” (2013) — Executive Producer Taking a break from making documentaries, Bannon produced "Sweetwater." The Western is all about revenge and murdering bad dudes, and has a pretty notable cast, including heavy hitters like January Jones, Jason Isaacs, Ed Harris and Stephen Root. Watch the trailer here.
“Rickover: The Birth of Nuclear Power” (2014) — Executive Producer "Rickover" tells the story of controversial US Navy Admiral Hyman Rickover, who pushed for the first nuclear-powered submarine. After that, Rickover became an entrepreneur and nuclear pioneer, building the first commercial nuclear power plant. The documentary, produced by Bannon, appeared on PBS, of all places.
PBS
“Clinton Cash” (2016) — Writer, Executive Producer Ahead of the 2016 election, Bannon wrote a documentary adaptation of the book "Clinton Cash" by Peter Schweizer. The movie focuses on Clinton Foundation corruption and suggests foreign money influences Hillary Clinton in government. Another ironic one, as allegations of ethics breaches and using the presidency for personal enrichment continue to follow the Trump family. Watch the trailer here.
Citizens United
“Torchbearer” (2016) — Writer, Director, Executive Producer "Duck Dynasty" star Phil Robertson goes around the world to talk about Christianity and the Bible in this Bannon-directed doc. The Duck Commander uses the Bible to add context to historical sites, pushing the idea of a culture war to get Christians out to the 2016 polls. Watch the trailer here.
Citizens United
"Trump @War" (2018) -- Writer, Director
After his ouster from the White House, Bannon directed and co-wrote a documentary ahead of the 2018 midterm elections that portrays Trump supporters as under siege. He also admitted to Axios that he hoped the film would get back into POTUS' good graces: "How jacked do we think Trump will be when he sees this?"
Victory Film Group
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Bannon produced Hollywood movies in the 1990s, but most of his efforts have gone to making polemic, conservative documentaries
Before he had the ear of the president, former White House Chief Political Strategist Steve Bannon tried his hand at Hollywood. As a producer, he was behind several small movies, but he really hit his movie-making stride writing and directing conservative documentaries aimed at Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Here's a complete list of every Hollywood project in which Bannon's had a hand.