Coup 53 is a documentary film which premiered in 2019.
The topic is the modern history of Iran, with special focus on the coup d’état which took place in August 1953.
Who was deposed?
Who was installed as the new leader?
How and why did it happen?
What were the consequences?
Here is some basic information about this film:
** Director: Taghi Amirani
** Editor: Walter Murch
** Run time: 119 minutes
Several persons are interviewed in the film, including the following:
** Ervand Abrahamian – he is the author of The Coup: 1953, the CIA and the Roots of Modern US-Iranian Relations (2013)
** Malcolm Byrne – deputy director, National Security Archives, George Washington University
** Stephen Kinzer – author of several books, including All the Shah’s Men (2003)
** David Talbot – American reporter – author of The Devil’s Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America’s Secret Government (2015)
Archive footage is used between the talking heads. Archive footage is used to support and supplement the statements made by the talking heads.
Archive footage makes it possible for the viewer to meet some of the people who played an important role in this case, but who were no longer alive when this film was made, including the following:
** Mohammad Mossadeq (1882-1967) – prime minister of Iran
1951-1953 – he was deposed in 1953 - he was placed under house arrest until his death in 1967
** Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (1919-1980) – shah of Iran 1941-1979 – he was installed as the new leader of the country in 1953
** Stephen Meade (1913-2004) – a CIA agent
** Kermit Roosevelt (1916-2000) – a CIA agent
The plot
This film is quite long. It runs for almost two hours. Why is it so long? Because there are two story lines in one film:
# 1. The first story line is about the past = the history of Iran in and around the year 1953
# 2. The second story line is about the present = the director is searching for evidence of the coup which happened in 1953 and he is searching for people who are familiar with Iranian history and who can help him understand what happened in 1953
The British government and MI6 have denied any involvement in the 1953 coup. They still do.
For many years, the US government and the CIA denied any involvement in the coup against Mossadeq.
In a way, the denial was silly. It was obvious that the US (and the UK) had been involved.
Critics could point to the book Countercoup written by former CIA agent Kermit Roosevelt and published in 1979 with the blessing of the agency. In this book, the author talks about the role he played in the secret coup against Mossadeq.
In 2013, sixty years after the controversial event,
the CIA finally admitted that it had been responsible for the coup of 1953.
Some secret government documents about the case were declassified. Not only American documents but also British documents.
These documents confirmed what many people had suspected: that the American CIA and the British MI6 had planned and implemented the coup in which the Shah was installed as the absolute ruler of the country.
How did they do it?
They contacted and bribed government officials, reporters and businessmen in Tehran. They contacted local gangsters and paid them to organize huge “popular” demonstrations against Mossadeq in Tehran.
They also contacted military leaders in Iran and made sure that most of them were prepared to support the operation against Mossadeq.
There was one important obstacle:
Mahmoud Afshartous, chief of the police while Mossadeq was prime minister, did not want to support the plan to remove the legal prime minister. He was abducted and killed by anti-Mossadeq conspirators.
In August 1953, the plan was implemented. Mohammad Mossadeq was deposed and the Shah of Iran was installed as the new leader of the country.
The Shah of Iran had been the head of state since 1941, when his father was deposed by a British and Soviet invasion. His father had been deposed because he was too friendly towards Nazi Germany.
From 1941 to 1953, the Shah did not have any real power. His role was purely ceremonial. Following the coup of 1953, he became a powerful leader who ruled his country with an iron fist.
When he persecuted the communist party and other dissidents, he had the full support of the UK and the US. He remained in power until 1979, when he was forced to leave the country. He died in Egypt in 1980.
Why did they do it?
The British had an economic interest in the case. They had created the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company to exploit the oil resources of Iran. They made huge profits on this operation.
As prime minister, Mossadeq had nationalized the oil of Iran. But the British could not accept this decision. It had to be reversed. They did not want to lose this significant source of income.
The Americans were focused on the Cold War between East and West.
Mossadeq was regarded as a communist. If he was not really a communist, he was working with the Communist Party of Iran and therefore he could be regarded as a communist.
The Shah of Iran represented the western world. Perhaps his country was not democratic, but it was open for business with the US and other western countries and this more important to the US government.
Ratings and reviews
What do reviewers say about this film?
Here are some results:
79 percent = IMDb
80 percent = Meta
85 percent = Rotten Tomatoes (the audience)
100 percent = Rotten tomatoes (the critics)
As you can see, the ratings are very good, but not every response was positive. The film generated a controversy which is connected with a former British agent of MI6, Norman Darbyshire (1924-1993).
In his film, Taghi Amirani mentions a documentary series called End of Empire made by Granada and shown on television in 1985.
There are 14 episodes.
Episode # 6 is about Iran.
According to Taghi Amirani, the Granada team made an interview with Darbyshire in which he talked about the coup of 1953 and the British role in this coup.
Amirani further explains that the British government contacted Granada Television shortly before the episode about Iran was about to be aired and asked them to remove the Darbyshire interview. Granada complied with this request and the episode was aired without the Darbyshire interview.
When Amirani contacted the members of the Granada team, they told him that there was no video of the interview, because it was audio only, but there was a transcript of the interview which they gave him.
Since there was no video, Amirani decided to create one for his film. He hired actor Ralph Fiennes to play the role of Darbyshire. He recorded the interview and used it in his film.
According to the Granada team, the version presented by Amirani is false.
They say the British government never contacted them about the Darbyshire interview.
They say the British government never demanded they cut out the interview with Darbyshire.
They say the Granada team did not succumb to any pressure from the British government, as Amirani claims.
When the controversy erupted, Amirani withdrew his film for a while. After a few months, the film appeared again, after Amirani and his editor Walter Murch had made a series of amendments.
It is a strange controversy. Why would Amirani claim the Granada team had allowed the British government to censure their film, if this never happened?
The Granada team say they made a video interview with former CIA agent Stephen Meade, but since it was on the record, he did not reveal any secrets, so they decided not to use it in the episode about Iran.
The Granada team say they had an audio interview with Norman Darbyshire. Since it was off the record, it was quite honest and revealing. The Granada team made a transcript of the interview which they used to prod the memories of other people who were interviewed for the episode.
But since the interview was audio only, they decided not to include it in the episode. They say there was no government pressure to cut it out.
As you can see, there is a controversy here. Apparently, Amirani’s film had a flaw. But he did make a series of amendments. And otherwise, this is an important film about an important moment in modern history.
I understand the numerous positive reviews of this film and I agree with them.
I want to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars (100 percent).
REFERENCES
# 1. Documentary films
American Coup (2010)
The Last Persian Shah (2019)
The Queen and the Coup (2020)
# 2. Books
Countercoup:
The Struggle for Control of Iran
by Kermit Roosevelt
(1979)
All the Shah’s Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror
by Stephen Kinzer
(2003)
Mohammad Mossadeq and the 1953 Coup in Iran
edited by Malcolm Byrne and Mark J. Gasiorowski
(2004)
Overthrow: America’s century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq
by Stephen Kinzer
(2006)
Treacherous Alliance:
The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran and the US
by Trita Parsi
(Hardcover 2007)
(Paperback 2008)
The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World
by Stephen Kinzer
(2013)
The Coup: 1953, the CIA, and the Roots of Modern US-Iranian Relations
by Ervand Abrahamian
(2013)
The Devil’s Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America’s Secret Government
by David Talbot
(2015)
# 3. Items available on the Internet
Colonel Stephen J. Meade
Filmed Interview Transcript
End of Empire: Iran
The Problems with Coup 53
End of Empire: Iran
A Short Account of American planned 1953 Coup
Operation Code-name: TP-AJAX
Iran Chamber Society
Arash Norouzi,
“The Darbyshire Tapes: Norman Darbyshire on Iran,”
The Mossadegh Project,
20 August 2020 – updated 5 November 2020
Saeed Kamali Dehghan and Richard Norton-Taylor,
“CIA admits role in 1953 Iranian coup,”
The Guardian,
19 August 2013
Seth Millstein,
“Sanders Had Surprising Comments About Iran,”
Bustle,
12 February 2016
Lawrence Wu and Michelle Lanz,
“How the CIA Overthrew Iran’s Democracy in 4 Days,”
National Public Radio,
7 February 2019
Chris Barsanti,
“Review: Coup 53 is a Crackerjack Look at a [sic] Anglo-American Coup in Iran,”
Slant Magazine,
17 August 2020
Matt Cipolla,
Coup 53 Review: MI6 and CIA’s Mission to Topple Iranian Leader Gets Sprawling Documentary,”
The Film Stage,
19 august 2020
Tara Brady,
“Coup 53: A maddening, gripping portrait of how imperialism works,”
The Irish Times,
21 August 2020
*****
Mohammad Mossadeq
(1882-1967)
Prime Minister of Iran 1951-1953
Deposed in 1953
Placed under house arrest
until his death in 1967
*****
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