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...
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...
- 8/21/2020
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Observational documentarian Barbara Kopple has a long history of making herself seem invisible, but the vérité intimacy and anti-establishment zeal of Oscar-winning classics like “Harlan County, USA,” and “American Dream” suggest that her signature work couldn’t have been made by anyone else; Kopple isn’t absent from these films so much as she’s sublimated into the air they breathe. “Desert One” is different — you couldn’t find Kopple’s fingerprints on this comprehensive but incurious account of the Iran hostage crisis if you watched the movie through a magnifying glass. Valuable for its access yet limited by its lack of perspective, “Desert One” puts a human face on one of the late 20th century’s worst debacles while framing the whole thing in the passive voice, resulting in a film that boasts the immediacy of a testament but the resonance of a textbook. It’s a documentary that...
- 8/21/2020
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Editor's note: This article contains graphic descriptions that may be upsetting to some readers.
When Herge died in 1983, many assumed that Tintin, his great creation, would retire to Marlinspike Hall, giving up his life of adventure. Ever unpredictable, the boy detective did exactly the opposite: He headed out into the big bad world and set about losing the innocence his illustrator had been so intent on preserving.
Over the last several decades, Tintin has popped up on posters and t-shirts throughout the world that document his new adventures, from binges in Barcelona to bad trips in Goa. The Belgian illustration has, despite the best efforts of the litigious Herge Foundation, become our foremost traveling subversive, an ex-investigator under perpetual investigation.
In 2001, a man operating under the name Bud E. Weyser approached a bookseller in Belgium and attempted to sell him copies of a new Tintin adventure entitled "Tintin in Thailand.
When Herge died in 1983, many assumed that Tintin, his great creation, would retire to Marlinspike Hall, giving up his life of adventure. Ever unpredictable, the boy detective did exactly the opposite: He headed out into the big bad world and set about losing the innocence his illustrator had been so intent on preserving.
Over the last several decades, Tintin has popped up on posters and t-shirts throughout the world that document his new adventures, from binges in Barcelona to bad trips in Goa. The Belgian illustration has, despite the best efforts of the litigious Herge Foundation, become our foremost traveling subversive, an ex-investigator under perpetual investigation.
In 2001, a man operating under the name Bud E. Weyser approached a bookseller in Belgium and attempted to sell him copies of a new Tintin adventure entitled "Tintin in Thailand.
- 12/17/2011
- by Andrew Burmon
- Huffington Post
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