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Coup 53
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Wikipedia article
{{Infobox film
| name = Coup 53
| image = Coup 53.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Film poster
| director = Taghi Amirani
| producer = Taghi Amirani
Paul Zaentz
| writer = Taghi Amirani
Walter Murch
| starring = Ralph Fiennes
| narrator =
| music = Robert Miller
| cinematography = Taghi Amirani
Simon Fanthorpe
Chris Morphet
Claudia Raschke
Vicente Franco
Ben Richards
| editing = Walter Murch
| studio = Amirani Media
| distributor =
| released =
| runtime = 118 minutes
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
Persian
| budget =
| gross =
}}
'Coup 53' is a 2019 British documentary about the 1953 Iranian coup d'tat to overthrow Iranian prime minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, co-written and directed by Taghi Amirani and co-written and edited by Walter Murch.
Production
The film, directed by Taghi Amirani, was edited and co-written by Walter Murch. Amirani devoted several years of sleuthing to research the story behind the 1953 coup. The film describes the departure of Amirani's family from Iran to England and then follows Amirani as he uncovers the evidence of the plot hatched by British and US intelligence, led by the CIA's Kermit Roosevelt Jr.
Central to the documentary is a series of clips in which actor Ralph Fiennes reads from a transcript of an interview with MI6 agent Norman Darbyshire, who admitted to plotting the coup (codenamed "Operation Ajax") together with the CIA.
Cast
People interviewed by the makers of 'Coup 53' include:
* Ralph Fiennes as Norman Darbyshire
* Walter Murch as self
* Taghi Amirani as self
* David Talbot as self
* Stephen Kinzer as self
* Ervand Abrahamian as self
* Malcolm Byrne as self
The documentary also draws on footage from an episode of the 1985 UK TV documentary series 'End of Empire', produced by Granada Television.
Release
'Coup 53's world premiere was at the 2019 Telluride Film Festival, and it also played the 2019 BFI London Film Festival. At the 2019 Vancouver International Film Festival, It was released to the general public on 19 August 2020 with an online release in the USA, UK, Canada and Ireland through 118 theaters using the platform Eventive. In mid-September 2020, 'Coup 53' was pulled from its digital distribution platforms. 'Coup 53' became available again on digital platforms on 18 December 2020.
Reception
'Coup 53' has received universally positive reviews from critics. As of July 2022, of the reviews compiled on Rotten Tomatoes are positive, with an average rating of . This puts Coup 53 in an elite group of only 112 films in all cinema history to have gained the Rotten Tomato "Certified Fresh" badge and 100% rating (with forty or more positive reviews and no negatives). The website's critics consensus reads: "Rife with the political intrigue promised by its title, 'Coup 53' is a spellbinding documentary with the heart of a thriller." The critical aggregator Metacritic awarded the film a score of 80 indicating "generally favorable reviews"
Coup 53s positive reviews began with Todd McCarthys Telluride Film Festival review in The Hollywood Reporter on September 4, 2019 in which he said the film is passionate and fearless, enormously benefitting from the involvement of the peerless film editor Walter Murch, and has the air of something that grew from an impudent home movie into a magnum opus. During the 2019 BFI London Film Festival where Coup 53 had its British and European Premiere Allan Hunter of Screen Daily called the film as compelling as a John Le Carr novel or aCosta-Gavras classic with pulse-racing discoveries and that director Taghi Amiranis forensic focus and expert storytelling create a vital docu/drama with the potential to reach far beyond history buffs and conspiracy theorists.
Upon the film's commercial release on 19 August 2020, Ann Hornaday of 'The Washington Post' gave the film four out of four stars and wrote: "Its 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." Later, Hornaday included Coup 53 in her list of best documentaries of 2020. In 'Empire', Ian Freer wrote: "Part political drama, part history lesson, part gripping spy thriller, 'Coup 53' gives what has been relegated to a small footnote in Irans story the big, expansive, dramatic treatment it deserves."
In his NPR Fresh Air review, John Powers said: An exhilarating... historical documentary that unfolds with the pace and complexity of a thriller. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian wrote This powerful and authoritative documentary by the Iranian filmmaker Taghi Amirani is as gripping as any thriller. Thrills and chills as spectacular Fiennes reveals a very British coup, said Charlotte OSullivan in the London Evening Standard. She added: Coup 53 is stranger than fiction and a terrifying reminder that the past never goes away this unclassifiable yarn feels like a thriller. Joe Morgenstern of 'The Wall Street Journal' called Coup 53 a formidable achievement adding As history lessons go, this is a powerful one in which a wealth of interviews and stunning graphics have been pulled together, with extraordinary attention to detail, into an intricate but lucid whole. Tim Robey of The Daily Telegraph called Coup 53 A labour of love, the film is premium detective work. Taghi Amiranis documentary, years in the making, unearths an astonishing confession from a British intelligence officer. From Tara Brady of The Irish Times: A maddening, gripping portrait of how imperialism works. Coup 53 is almost as concerned with the film-making process the lists, the dead ends, the searching as much as it is with political history.
Making Coup 53 The New York Times Critics Pick critics Ben Kenigsberg said: It takes a certain kind of documentary to make sifting through old papers look exciting, but in Coup 53, the director Taghi Amirani sets an expectation of suspense early on. Across time and space, a single, consistent story emerges. For a narrative shrouded in subterfuge, thats a considerable achievement. Both as a detective story and as a deep dive into a world event whose consequences linger, it is bracing, absorbing filmmaking.
Comparison to John le Carrs masterful work was frequently commented upon
Larushka Ivan-Zadeh in The Times gave the film 5 stars and said Ralph Fiennes appears, lending a wry le Carr air to proceedings as an enigmatic MI6 agent with an explosive testimony. The sheer level of granular detail could overwhelm without Amiranis boundless to-camera energy. He transforms sifting through dusty plastic bags and filing cabinets into a thrilling detective case. Danny Leighs review in The Financial Times said This is not some dry piece of historical revision. Amirani's passion is palpable from the start and he peppers his film with twists and reveals that would make John le Carr smile. Its like taking a swim in John le Carrs brain said Dave Calhoun in his Time Out review titled Shadowy spies and questing journalists abound in this taut, compelling doc. Marc Savlov in The Austin Chronicle wrote Coup 53 is a historical documentary that plays more like All the Presidents Men had it been written by John le Carr with a dash of Costa-Gavras and Manchurian Candidate by John Frankenheimer. Savlov went on to say a spellbinding rabbit-hole of a movie, rife with outsized characters and conspiracies galore, but also and perhaps, more importantly, an eye-opening window onto the U.S. and Irans current state of mutual enmity.
Awards
'Coup 53' won the Audience Award for Most Popular International Documentary at the Vancouver International Film Festival. The film received a nomination for Best Documentary, in the British Independent Film Awards. Coup 53 was nominated for the Grierson Award for Best Feature Documentary at the 2019 BFI London Film Festival. The film won Best Documentary at the MIFF Awards in Italy in December 2020. The film won the Audience Award at the 14th edition of Cinma Vrit Festival in Iran in December 2020. The film won the Crystal Phoenix Award for best documentary at the 39th Fajr Film Festival in Iran in February 2021. Walter Murch's editing won the Best Edited Documentary award at the United Nations Association Film Festival in October, 2021.Controversy
The producers of 'End of Empire: Iran' have criticised the portrayal by 'Coup 53' of their programme and produced a website and video to summarise their critiques. They challenge 'Coup 53's suggestions that they censored the key interview with Norman Darbyshire in order to downplay MI6's role in the coup. They state that Darbyshire would not agree to be filmed or named, but that the audio-only research interview Alison Rooper conducted with him was important to their work in which they clearly show MI6's role in the coup. The veracity of the audio transcript with Norman Darbyshire is not in dispute and can be seen online at the National Security Archive website.
Author Stephen Dorril, who is interviewed in 'Coup 53', has called the film "essentially fraudulent" for its suggestions that it has uncovered suppressed information about Darbyshire, noting that he has discussed Darbyshire in print since 1989, and also suggesting Amirani misled Dorril about evidence of a filmed interview with Darbyshire. Author and 'End of Empire' researcher Cate Haste asked to be removed from 'Coup 53's credits.
In mid-September 2020, 'Coup 53' was pulled from its digital distribution platforms. The filmmaker said in an email: I have some sad news. Due to an archive licensing issue that has been brought to our attention today, we must withdraw the film from all public screenings until the issue is resolved with the copyright holder." On Twitter, the filmmakers announced 'Coup 53' would be back soon due to popular demand.
In November 2020, 'The Observer' reported that Baroness Helena Kennedy had been asked to mediate between the 'Coup 53' filmmakers and the 'End of Empire' program-makers, but the negotiations had broken down. Amirani and Murch told 'The Observer' that they faced "a painful choice between a long legal battle or making expensive changes to important elements of their film" in order to regain the right to license footage from 'End of Empire'. 'Coup 53' became available again on digital platforms on 18 December 2020 after ITV granted a new archive license, conditional on 17 specific amendments to the film.
References
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