IRAN, THE HUNDRED-YEAR WAR

How far will Iran go?
A crossroad country, a nation divided, Iran is on the rise after a century of political upheaval. The nuclear crisis has revealed to the world its goal: to become a world power.

The roots of this bold challenge issued to the West sink deep into a past rife with revolutions, coups de force and intrigues elaborated in foreign capitals. The telling of this story, with light shed on it from the point of view of Iranians who were its key players, provides the keys to present-day Iran’s goal of international influence.

For the first time ever, this film will look back over 100 years of Iranian history to the veritable wellsprings of the confrontation between Iran and the western powers. Their incessant rivalry for control of the country’s wealth has exacerbated a patriotism that allied itself with the ayatollahs from the early 20th century. From the discovery of oil to the present day, Iran has been on a painful quest for identity and independence.
1908 – 2008: Is the countdown finally coming to an end?

By going back in time over 100 years, “Iran, a Powerhouse unveiled” will explain the role and strategy of Iran in global politics as it is about to celebrate in January 2009 the 30th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. A reference documentary on the past and present challenges of Iran to the Middle East and beyond.

This film is a narrative. With a plot. To tell the story of Iran, it focuses on the duel that, since 1908, has pitted Teheran against, first London, then Washington. This duel is more than just a ghost haunting the Iranian conscience. It summarizes the entire 20th century. It crops up in every major division of our era. It is at the heart of East/West, Occidental/Oriental and even Northern hemisphere/Southern hemisphere relations. In telling the tale of Iran, it tells the tale of the world, of our history.

The film will shed light on a primordial cultural conflict:
facing the closed fundamentalism incarnated by Sunnism, and with Salafism as a spearhead, does Shiism, with its open-minded attitude towards prophesy, the Koran, sacred texts, the clergy and society, as well as its mystical accents, aspirations towards justice, and its political realism actually represent a chance for
internal reform of Islam? More religious than Turkey, more secularized than Saudi Arabia, more modern than Egypt, better-educated than Pakistan, can Iran influence the fate of the Muslim world?

This film will decipher the geopolitical shift that is currently taking place: on the eve of American presidential elections, as Iraq is falling apart, chaos is overtaking Pakistan, Israel envisions resorting to force, France has joined the Anglo-Saxon alliance in the Middle East, and Russia is once again making its presence felt in the Persian Gulf via Teheran, what will the new world order be?

1908-2008. Iran replaces Persia; America replaces England; Bush, Churchill. Will atomic energy replace oil? Has the situation come full circle? Are we back to square one? Perhaps, were it not for the fact that the crazed path of the past century, aggravated by international tension and conflicts, make these endlessly reopened crises the key to the beginning of the third millennium.