I was not expecting much from this biography. It is titled Ayatollah Khomeini: Holy Terror. Americans are very upset with him for the hostage crisis, and I expected to learn he was more wicked than Hitler in a one-sided diatribe. However, the documentary manages to show him from many different angles. Even though we hated him, the Iranian people did not. Even though we think an Islamic theocracy is insane, the Iranian people did not. The movie made that clear. The documentary shows that Khomeini was democratically elected. It also showed why Iranians would be so upset with Americans backing the Shah. It even revealed that the hostage crisis was about getting the Shah (who was in the USA at the time) extradited for his crimes. At the time, I don't think I ever heard about that Iranian demand. I thought this was remarkably balanced for an American-made documentary.
However, the documentary dishonestly completely skipped how Reagan ended the hostage crisis. He told Khomeini not to negotiate with Carter because Reagan would give him a better deal if elected. This humiliated Carter during the election. Reagan then traded arms for hostages, thus encouraging hostage taking in future.
There is not much known about Khomeini's personal life, but they did manage to find some photos of a surprisingly handsome younger Khomeini, and uncover stories about what he was like as husband and father.
In summary, he was a religious fanatic. His absolute conviction that his religious beliefs were correct lead him to do some ghastly things.
However, the documentary dishonestly completely skipped how Reagan ended the hostage crisis. He told Khomeini not to negotiate with Carter because Reagan would give him a better deal if elected. This humiliated Carter during the election. Reagan then traded arms for hostages, thus encouraging hostage taking in future.
There is not much known about Khomeini's personal life, but they did manage to find some photos of a surprisingly handsome younger Khomeini, and uncover stories about what he was like as husband and father.
In summary, he was a religious fanatic. His absolute conviction that his religious beliefs were correct lead him to do some ghastly things.
