IN THE DARK OF NIGHT // A FILM REVIEW OF "DESERT ONE"
There's a lot packed into DESERT ONE, the new documentary about the Iranian Hostage Crisis, but it's told with an expert ease. It tells of how the Iranian Revolution erupted in 1978, of how the Shah of Iran (Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran) and the US had a long history of friendship, even though the Shah had decades of human rights violations in his own country. He was overthrown in 1979, fled to America, and a new government led by the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini took over. The Ayatollah was no fan of the U.S. and as a result the U.S. embassy was stormed by student militants, with 52 Americans taken hostage. The Ayatollah demanded that the U.S., who he considered was harboring the Shah, hand him over. Only then would they release the hostages.
What happened in the months following led to an unrest in America, furthered the relations between the U.S. and Iran (which continues to this day) and destroyed whatever good will President Carter had left with the American people. His inaction for months, refusing to use military force, is just as frustrating now as I'm sure it was then. Five months into the crisis, after a majority of Americans were furious with his no-military action stance, he begins to set up a secret rescue mission, one that's recounted in detail, from the point of view of those who were there. It's a secret mission that had not "dry run" to figure out if there would be additional challenges they might face. One soldier recalls that he was even dubious that it would succeed, saying that there were "too many moving parts." Eight helicopters began the rescue and only five actually landed. From there it got much, much worse.
Director Barbara Kopple handles all of the stories expertly (aided by some fantastic animation by Zartosht Soltani), and hearing from the soldiers who tried that day to rescue their fellow Americans is powerful indeed. We also learn things that make our stomach ache, such as the fact that in Iran, there's a celebration yearly where the disaster took place and that it's actually a tourist site now. We hear directly from President Carter and Vice President Walter Mondale in new interviews speaking about the mission, about the failure and the aftermath of what they've experienced. We also hear from people in Iran who were involved in taking hostages and one man who was a boy and had a front row seat of the tragedy. It's a horrible and powerful look into a terrible situation and a rescue mission that blew up in our faces, taking the lives of eight Americans and one Iranian citizen. Horrifyingly, at one point we see how the charred bodies of the Americans were dragged to a public viewing and put on display before being returned to the states. The hostages were held for 444 days and released only minutes after Ronald Reagan was sworn in (after a landslide victory against Carter), adding one final humiliation to Carter, denying him any proud moment to claim as his own. It's a harrowing tale, expertly told here.
GRADE: A
DIRECTED BY Barbara Kopple FEATURING President Jimmy Carter, Vice President Walter Mondale, Ted Koppel, David Aaron, Mahmoud Abedini, Ken Bancroft, Dru Bancroft, William G. Boykin, Bucky Buchannan, Lewis "Bucky" Burruss. Now Available on Digital Cinemas.