In 1979, under the leadership of Ayatollah Khomeini, revolution broke out in Iran and overthrew Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. This event marks the end of a two and a half thousand year old monarchy. This documentary retraces the lives of these two enemies who clashed for more than thirty years, from the Shah's rise to power in the 1940s until his fall.
Editing
Juxtaposed footage builds ruthless parallel portraits
Production
Remarkable archival access spanning four decades
Director
Holger Preuße
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Preuße deliberately avoids narrator commentary, letting the archival footage's own propaganda speak—Shah's lavish ceremonies vs. Khomeini's austere charisma creates its own devastating argument.
The documentary sourced previously unreleased West German diplomatic footage from 1978-79, capturing embassy panic as revolution accelerated—much of this was classified until 2015.
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