Persepolis (2007)

nospam@example.com (Ryan) — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 07:18:53 -0500

     I’m a huge fan of animation and particularly of cartoons, so I was biased towards Persepolis to begin with, but this really is an excellent movie. As I understand it, the cartoon is based on a French graphic novel which is in turn based on the life of Iranian expatriate Marjane Satrapi. The movie follows her life, growing up in Iran in the late seventies and early eighties in a family of anti-establishment communist activists. The animation follows the style of thick black lines and high contrast that is common to “dark” graphic novels and I just love it. Periodically it cuts back to the future, which is in color, but only just.

     The movie is in French, but takes place in Iran and Austria, and apparently the dialog is even better (so says Clo) if you understand French I spent most of the time focused on the terrific animation and the surreal story of living in Iran during the take over by the Shaw. At one point Marjane’s aunt needs to apply for a passport to get her husband out of the country for needed surgery--at this point in the movie the Iran-Iraq war is tearing the country and its people to pieces. The man denies her request, citing “God’s will”, and the aunt angry points out that this man used to wash windows, but since the Shaw he has grown a beard and now runs the hospital... According to “God’s will”. Marjane herself speaks to God, very casually, throughout the movie in a casual an non-confrontational way that is unfamiliar to American cinema. Her irreverence truly manifests itself as she challenges her religion teacher, refuses to pull her head scarf over her face, and as pictured in this screen shot, sports a jacket that says “Punk is not dead”. The two teachers point at her button of Michael Jackson and she says “No, it is.... Malcom X”. Fearing for her safety her parents ship her off to a French school in Austria and a hilarious bit of animation ensues during which she matures into a woman.

     If you want to read a real synopsis of the movie, you can check it out at the IMDB, but if I were you I’d drop what I was doing and go see this movie... Or if you’re in Europe, go rent the DVD

Mojoblog - Movies

Persepolis (2007)