Zartosht soltani biography of michael

One of America’s outstanding documentary filmmakers with a career that stretches back to 1976’s Oscar-winning “Harlan County, USA,” Barbara Kopple is at the top of her game in “Desert One,” a riveting account of President Jimmy Carter’s daring but tragically unsuccessful attempt to rescue 52 Americans held hostage in Iran in 1980.

Although the events it chronicles are now four decades in the past, they have a potent, immediate charge in an election year when tensions between and the U.S. and Iran are at another high. And beyond the political implications, this is a terrifically dramatic and very emotional film; understandably, some of the interviewees struggle to maintain composure when recalling their past trials.

“Desert One” actually tells two related stories, which it brilliantly interweaves.

One is the story of how the Iranian Revolution, which erupted in late 1978 and led to the flight of the highly unpopular Shah and establishment of a new Islamic government under Ayatollah