Cover Up (Film Review)

Note: This is a documentary film, not a major motion picture.

Cover Up (note: this film was also released as “The Iran Cover Up”, and also as “Behind the Iran Cover Up”) ; c1988 ; 72 minutes ; English ; directed by David Kasper & Barbara Trent ; written by Eve Goldberg ; narrated by Elizabeth Montgomery (yes, that woman from “Bewitched”). An examination of U.S.-Iran-Nicaragua embarrassments, diplomatic and otherwise, beginning with the conclusion of the U.S. hostage situation, and culminating in the U.S. Congressional investigation.

Much in the same vein as her other well-known Central American political documentary (“The Panama Deception” – an examination of Operation Just Cause, and the capture of General Noriega), Trent offers a view more or less opposite that offered by most mainstream media outlets.

She explores many aspects of the scandal, in particular, Oliver North’s aid to the Contras, Rex-84 Bravo outfit, the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency, the use of American hostages in Iran as a political tool (the Reagan-Bush “people” working against the Carter Administration in arranging to have the hostages released after the election, in return for a gigantic arms deal, etc.), and various covert operations.

The film relies heavily on documents and data via the Freedom of Information Act, and The Center for Constitutional Rights. Nevertheless, outlets such as PBS television in the U.S., refused to air the project unless accusations made regarding former President Bush were edited out of the TV version of the film.

In many respects, the film takes off where the Congressional investigation leaves off. It also raises far more questions than it answers. It is routine for people on the so-called right, to disregard Trent. But, if she is correct about only a small percentage of what she says, her work is 100% relevant. One fault with Trent´s work is that she has a tendency to blur what is definitely true, what is almost surely true, what is probably true, and so forth. As such, some segments of her work seem an unfortunate mix of first-rate investigative journalism, and occassionally, a questionable, almost juvenile, attempt at objectivity in subject matter for which she is not exactly known for perfect detachment.

Trent’s work here on “Cover Up”, and in her other two Central American documentaries (U.S. foreign policy in Panama, and Nicaragua), is discussed in interview fashion in another documentary film, “Raw Footage 1 – The Films of Barbara Trent” – where she is interviewed at length by Alec Baldwin. Trent’s films are routinely shown at festival, aired on television in many countries (rarely if ever in the U.S.), and are usually also available for download-renting via:

http://www.nowshowingonline.com/index.html