In 1979, tensions between Iran and the United States boiled over when opposition to Mohammad Reza Shah’s corrupt, brutal, and American-supported leadership allowed the Islamic fundamentalist Ayatollah Khomeini to seize power. Khomeini’s followers captured the US embassy in Tehran and took dozens of employees and State Department officials as hostages. President Jimmy Carter, who had staked his leadership on human rights and using military force as a last resort, now faced a situation with no good options.
Using new archival sources and unprecedented access to key players on both sides, master documentarian and 2-time Oscar winner Barbara Kopple (Miss Sharon Jones!, Harlan County, USA) reveals the true story behind one of the most daring rescues in modern US history: a secret mission to free hostages captured during the 1979 Iranian revolution.
Director Barbara Kopple | 2019 | In English and Persian with English subtitles | 107 minutes | NR
