''Desert One'' is an 2019 American documentary film directed and produced by Barbara Kopple. It follows

Operation Eagle Claw Operation Eagle Claw, known as Operation Tabas ( fa, عملیات طبس) in Iran, was a failed operation by the United States Armed Forces ordered by U.S. President Jimmy Carter to attempt the rescue of 52 embassy staff held captive at the ...

, a mission that was an attempt to end the Iran hostage crisis by rescuing 52 embassy staff held hostage. The film had its world premiere at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

on September 8, 2019. It was released on August 21, 2020, by Greenwich Entertainment.

Synopsis

The film follows

, a mission that was an attempt to end the Iran hostage crisis by rescuing 52 embassy staff held hostage at the

Embassy of the United States, Tehran The Embassy of the United States of America in Tehran was the American diplomatic mission in the Imperial State of Iran. Direct bilateral diplomatic relations between the two governments were severed following the Iranian Revolution in 1979, and ...

. Former

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...

Walter Mondale Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale (January 5, 1928 – April 19, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 42nd vice president of the United States from 1977 to 1981 under President Jimmy Carter. A U.S. senator from Minnesota ...

, Ted Koppel, David Aaron, Mahmoud Abedini, Robert Gates, Wade Ishimoto,

John Limbert John W. Limbert (born 1943) is an American diplomat. He is the former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Iran in the US State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. He is a veteran U.S. diplomat and a former official at the U.S. Emb ...

, and former hostage-takers and hostages appear in the film.

Release

The film had its world premiere at the

on September 8, 2019. It also screened at DOC NYC on November 8, 2019, and the AFI Fest on November 18, 2019. In April 2020, Greenwich Entertainment acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film. It was released on August 21, 2020.

Reception

''Desert One'' received positive reviews from film critics. It holds approval rating on

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, based on reviews, with an average of . The site's critical consensus reads, "Comprehensive without getting bogged down in details, Desert One offers a fascinating look at a daring military mission that ended in defeat." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film holds a rating of 80 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

References

External links

* * * * {{Barbara Kopple 2019 films 2019 documentary films American documentary films Documentary films about war Documentary films about war crimes Documentary films about Iran Documentary films about United States history Documentary films about veterans Films directed by Barbara Kopple 2010s American films