Nearly a video pictorial of the beginning
of the Iranian or Islamist Revolution in 1979. I am not sure who took the
video - various people I would guess - but collected by director Hossein
Torabi - and edited together in chronological order. There is no narration
- just the occasional note of where the activity is taking place and takes
no sides . The director assumes that the viewer knows enough about the events
to piece it together. Though quite repetitious, it is also fascinating. A
birds-eye view of a revolution at work. It begins with people mourning for
the dead of the Cinema Rex fire - over 300 of them. At the time Iranian cinemas
were showing films that the religious organizations considered evil and burnt
down the occasional theater, but not with people inside. Later it was concluded
that religious fanatics and locked the doors and set the fire. But the government
was blamed for it and it was a huge rallying cry for the events that followed.
The Pahlavi regime was in charge with the
Shah at the head of it. He had been in power since a coup sponsored by the
USA had put him in power in 1953. It was to some degree his attempts at modernizing
Iran that eventually led to his downfall because the mullahs were against
increasing secularism. In particular, a mullah named Khomeini, who led the
protests and was exiled out of the country in 1964. From there his popularity
in Iran grew. The Shah grew increasingly brutal using his secret service
the SAVAK in cracking down on the opposition, murdering and torturing thousands.
After the Rex fire, huge protests were organized and the film consists of
a lot of that. Crowds as far as the eye could see. Estimated to be in the
millions - shouting slogans, singing songs, women dressed in black in their
section all covered up, men in there's.
The Shah saw the writing on the wall and
instead of trying to oppress the large crowds, left the country for a "holiday".
He would be dead from cancer by 1980. The government was left in the hands
of the Prime Minister, Bakhtiar who invited Ayatollah to return to Iran.
Bakhtiar later left the country but was still assassinated by agents of the
Islamic Republic in 1991. For all intents Khomeini took power though civilians
ran the government. He had veto power over everything and the heavy hand
of the Islamic government and the Revolutionary Guard began to impose their
strict Islamic rules on the people. And though Khomeini had promised equality
and more freedom when he returned, once in power the executions began. Thousands
of them. The film doesn't get into any of that. It ends with a vote from
the population whether the government of Iran should be Islamic. An election
that led to dictatorship. Say hello to the new boss. Same as the old boss.
This was primarily of interest to me because
my father was working in the US Embassy at the time. He witnessed all of
this and I was hoping I would get a glimpse of him. Before the hostage takeover
in October 1979, there had been a two-day takeover of the Embassy and my
father was there for that one. He has talked to us about it - burning as
many documents as they could, lying on the floor as bullets hit above them,
being captured, thinking they would be executed. Before that day, he had
been handing out visas to as many people as he could and telling them to
leave. Some did and some of his friends did not. They were later executed.
He loved Persian culture and considered Iranians as some of the best people
on earth. He left before the big hostage takeover but he always felt a great
friendship towards the people.
