Persepolis (rated PG-13 for mature thematic material including violent images, sexual references, language and brief drug content) is France’s official submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards. Based on a graphic novel of the same name by Marjane Satrapi, the film is a monochromatically animated coming-of-age story set against the Iranian Cultural Revolution.

Raised in Tehran by educated parents, precocious Marjane watches a fundamentalist cultural shift and the West’s involvement in her country’s war through young eyes. She enthusiastically adopts the beliefs of her politically subversive relatives (a dearly loved Communist uncle, a sweet, wise grandmother) while simultaneously becoming enamored of taboo Western culture, buying Iron Maiden cassettes off the street and helping hide evidence of secret house parties from the police.

Marjane’s childhood stories are affected by aspects of the Cultural Revolution, disorienting viewers who are not as up on their Middle Eastern history as they should be (and presumably, most American audiences fall into this category). The occasional haphazardness of the resultant narrative is understandable. While shaped by their culture, children rarely recall all of its details coherently.

But it’s when Marjane leaves her native Iran to study in Vienna that the story drags. Through her eyes, we experience teenage anarchist culture in Europe, bad relationships, and depression. This latter narrative lacks the drive and purpose of the early parts of the film, introducing tedium into the mix, to poor effect.

Still, Persepolis wins points for originality of presentation and a sensitive yet critical handling of Islamic political fundamentalism. The animation is innovative, mixing elements of color and monochrome, texture and simplicity, and the dialogue is clear and subtitled well. One wishes Satrapi continued her story beyond the film’s conclusion to explain her journey toward publishing the story. However, what Persepolis did accomplish – likely fulfilling its purpose – was planting a spark of interest in learning more about its historical and cultural context.

	Topic: Movies & TV, Reviews		Email a friend
	Keywords: Iranian Cultural Revolution, Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis		RSS 2.0
	Both comments and pings are currently closed.		Share this: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.