There could be no more serendipitous programming on television this coming week than National Geographic Channel’s “Iran and the West,” as the eyes of the world are focused currently on the Islamic Republic’s post-election protests and threatened crackdown on those protests. Featuring surprisingly candid interviews with leading players from both sides, this eye-opening, riveting two-hour special explores the complex relationship the Islamic Republic has shared with the United States and Europe since the fall of the pro-Western Shah in 1979.
Treated alternately as an enemy and an ally by its Western counterparts, Iran has played a pivotal role in not only the political biography of the Middle East, but, indeed, the world. And this documentary does a masterful job of connecting the dots, essentially giving the viewer an easy to navigate road map to a complex journey from the Iran Hostage Crisis, to the rise of Hezbollah, to Iran’s opposition to the Taliban. Leveraging astonishing access to key officials, this special provides historical context for current events that the main stream media simply isn’t giving viewers.
If you want to better understand the breaking news reports about Iran filling the newspapers, cable networks, and even Twitter, then you must check out this incredibly enlightening documentary.
“Iran and the West” airs Monday, June 22, at 9:00 p.m. ET on National Geographic Channel.