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This documentary tells the story of Operation Ajax, a British and American staged coup executed by the MI6 and CIA, that managed to overthrow Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh and strengthened the power of the Monarch or Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, in August of 1953.
As enlightening as Coup 53 is as a secret history, it’s even more satisfying as an aesthetic exercise, treating viewers to one of cleverest workarounds in cinematic problem-solving in recent memory. It’s a nonfiction film that functions precisely as all documentaries should: as a piece of doggedly investigative, personally transparent reporting, and as simply great storytelling, full stop.
Is Coup 53 trustworthy in every respect? Perhaps not. Both as a detective story and as a deep dive into a world event whose consequences linger, it is bracing, absorbing filmmaking.
Once Taghi Amirani turns his attention to the coup itself, his film snaps into shape, with Walter Murch skillfully knitting together new and old interviews to lay out the story in highly dramatic form.
Coup 53 is worth seeing, but its general effect on this viewer was to seek out more books, rather than movies, on the subject. Which I suppose is something.
Part political drama, part history lesson, part gripping spy thriller, Coup 53 gives what has been relegated to a small footnote in Iran’s story the big, expansive, dramatic treatment it deserves.
Whether or not Darbyshire’s admission is the bombshell Mr. Amirani says it is, his account is a chilling commentary on a dark chapter in Middle East history.
Fiennes assumes the character and recites shocking revelations that Amirami’s obsessive research has disclosed. It sounds like a cheap trick, but the actor pulls it off flawlessly.
If I had a criticism of this film, it is that – like so many historians of spies and spying – the director gets a little overexcited about the archive details. Still, what a riveting story: a grim curtain-raiser to today’s tragedies.
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WHAT ARE CRITICS SAYING?
Washington Post by Ann Hornaday
The New York Times by Ben Kenigsberg
Slant Magazine by Chris Barsanti
Time Out by Dave Calhoun
RogerEbert.com by Glenn Kenny
Empire by Ian Freer
Wall Street Journal by Joe Morgenstern
Austin Chronicle by Marc Savlov
The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw
TheWrap by Steve Pond