The Shah of Iran´s tragical story has not only historical consequences for the Pahlavi dynasty itself but equally for the country itself that was thrown in decades of turmoil and abuses. What if the Shah would have understood better that it is about time to really understand its people? Unfortunatelly such projections are too late and historically toxic.
Decadence&Downfall: The Shah of Iran´s Ultima Party was released by BBC in 2017. The 1h30 documentary is primarily featuring the grandiose celebrations of 2,500 Years of Persian monarchy in 1971, where 2,500 guests from all over the world were offered lavish celebrations for three days spending an amount that was three times the annual budget of the rich Switzerland.
The movie features fragments of interviews with the Shah and Farah Diba - speaking a very elegant French and English - as well as with people involved at various level of organising the festivities, from the serving personnel to foreign journalists and local politicians at the time, as the former and loyal diplomat Ardeshir Zahedi, who happened to be the son-in-law of the Shah who never ceased to be a proud Iranian.
´I have a divine command of doing what I am doing´, is the Shah confessing in one of those interviews. The megalomanic party and his entire court routine and display of outrageous luxury in a country where half of the people still leaved below the poverty line. The display of diamonds and majestic richness was more than part of the westoxification - gharbzadegi - a very popular concept among the opponents of the Shah, introduced by Jalal Al-e Ahmad. It was a statement of independence and of assumed bold stake in a world that was becoming strongly bi-polar therefore with no concerns for the ambitions of the ´King of Kings´ - the title that Shah Reza awarded himself in 1967. But in this respect as well, the Shah ignored the realities. In the end, he was a victim of his and his entourage ´bubble life´. His beloved people would be the victim of his errors until today.
The documentary is relatively fair and informative and the archive recordings are alternating with interviews of various people involved in the preparations of the ceremonies as well as connected with the Iranian monarchy.
Personally, I am looking forward this weekend to read more about the global entanglements of the former Shah, but this movie is an eye-opening especially as it offers a strong visual approach to the historical identification and continuity with the reign of Cyrus the Great - Khoros, in Persian - who is nowadays under the reign of the Islamic Republic reduced to the silence of history.
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