{"id":10997,"date":"2015-03-08T22:06:25","date_gmt":"2015-03-09T02:06:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=10997"},"modified":"2015-03-08T22:06:25","modified_gmt":"2015-03-09T02:06:25","slug":"film-iranian-odyssey-mossadegh-oil-and-the-1953-coup-an-2010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=10997","title":{"rendered":"Film: Iranian Odyssey – Mossadegh, Oil and the 1953 Coup, An (2010)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\"IranianOdyssey_snapshot\"<\/a>Film<\/strong>: Excellent<\/p>\n

Transfer<\/strong>: \u00a0n\/a<\/p>\n

Extras<\/strong>:\u00a0n\/a<\/p>\n

Label:\u00a0n\/a\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Region:<\/strong>\u00a0n\/a<\/p>\n

Released:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0n\/a<\/p>\n

Genre:<\/strong>\u00a0 Documentary \/ War<\/p>\n

Synopsis:<\/strong>\u00a0 Beautifully researched documentary on Iran’s democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh (1951-1953), whose efforts to nationalize the country’s oil industry ultimately led to a MI6-CIA-led coup and the return of the monarchy.<\/p>\n

Special Features:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0n\/a\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Review:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Maziar Bahari\u2019s documentary examines the pivotal period between 1951-1953 in which Iranian cabinet minister Mohammad Mossadegh<\/a> was elected Prime Minister and proceeded to nationalize the country\u2019s oil industry after 40 years of control by the British Ango-Persian Oil Company (later to become BP), and whose progressive goals were ultimately thwarted by coup led by the CIA at the behest of Britain\u2019s MI6.<\/p>\n

According to Bahari\u2019s research, Mossadegh had initially wanted the same terms enjoyed by African and Middle Eastern countries, a straight 50\/50 split of resources with U.S. oil companies, but a stubborn A-P\u2019 wanted to hold onto their 51% ownership of the extraction, refining, and distribution of the country\u2019s oil, earning the company twice as much income as Iran.<\/p>\n

A-P\u2019s reasoning was classically colonial \/ corporate arrogance: they extracted the oil, built the industry\u2019s infrastructure, and went through the trouble to send the oil to international markets, so why shouldn\u2019t they maintain top-to-bottom control?<\/p>\n

Mossadegh orchestrated protests among the workers, and when he came to power in 1951, moved for industry nationalization, which forced A-P to pressure the British government to install a ban on Iranian oil exports. The contemporary echoes of this policy are starkly familiar, and yet for a while it seemed Mossadegh had the upper hand, ultimately succeeding in his plans for nationalization.<\/p>\n

A-P\u2019s fears, and probably those of U.S. firms, were clear: if Mossadegh\u2019s efforts worked, there\u2019s no reason other former British and European colonies in Asia and Africa could succeed in reclaiming their natural resources. The deep concern of A-P is understandable, given England had lost control of India, their biggest South Asian colony, in 1947.<\/p>\n

The CIA\u2019s involvement which ultimately led to Mossadegh\u2019s ousting, trial, 3 year jail term, and house arrest until his death in 1967, played out like the grand finale of an elaborate chess game between colonial powers, with a country’s oil reserves as the top prize.\u00a0Maneuvers included pitting local Communists against religious leaders, the Soviets wanting to acquire control in southern territories and install a puppet regime, and Iran’s forced shuttering of the British embassy when an earlier coup was revealed. Folded into this complex series of twisting conflicts was Iran’s monarch, the Shah, who maintained favourable relations with Britain and the U.S.<\/p>\n

What ultimately emerged from the 1953 coup d\u2019tetat was a formula that could be repeated in other countries when progressive socialist, nationalistic leaders got too uppity for oil corporations: play up local political and religious rivalries, deepen the fear of Communism, and create enough agitations to motivate the right factions to ultimately gain power and maintain favourable relations with western countries.<\/p>\n

The events which led to the Shah\u2019s return and lengthy rule are sometimes bewildering, but like Mossadegh, the Shah had to struggle with religious leaders who similarly wanted more power, and represented a substantive mass of conservative, working class, and rural citizens who felt increasingly disenfranchised. The boiling resulted in the 1979 Islamic Revolution which transformed the former monarchy into a clergy-run state.<\/p>\n

Packed with stills, archival news footage, audio, and significant interviews, including former Mossadegh aides, rivals, descendants, and a former British Foreign Office diplomat, Bahari\u2019s doc is a valuable primer on a pivotal period in Iran\u2019s complex 20th century history. Portions of Ganesh Anandan\u2019s music were chopped up and oft-repeated throughout the film, but his use of frame drum<\/a> and dulcimer add an especially poignant tone to this edifying film.<\/p>\n

Maziar Bahari\u2019s recent directorial work is the documentary\u00a0To Light a Candle<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(2014), and some of his prior work is available online, including\u00a0Mohammad and the Matchmaker<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(2004) and\u00a0And Along Came a Spider<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>(2003) on YouTube; and\u00a0Reporters in Iraq<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(2005), \u00a0An Iranian Odyssey: Mossadegh, Oil and the 1953 Coup<\/strong>\u00a0(2010), and\u00a0From Cyrus to Ahmadinejad: The Not So Secret Iran-Israel War<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(2012) on Vimeo.<\/p>\n

His 2009 incarceration in an Iranian jail was recently dramatized by Jon Stewart in the film\u00a0Rosewater<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(2014).<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2015 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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External References:<\/strong>
\nEditor’s Blog<\/a> — IMDB<\/a> \u00a0— \u00a0Vimeo Link<\/a> — Composer Website<\/a>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\nVendor Search Links:<\/strong>
\nAmazon.ca<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maziar Bahari\u2019s documentary examines the pivotal period between 1951-1953 in which Iranian cabinet minister Mohammad Mossadegh was elected Prime Minister and proceeded to nationalize the country\u2019s oil industry after 40 years of control by the British Ango-Persian Oil Company (later to become BP), and whose progressive goals were ultimately thwarted by coup led by the CIA at the behest of Britain\u2019s MI6…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[3498,3309,3485,3497,3511],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-2Rn","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10997"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10997"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10997\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11036,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10997\/revisions\/11036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}