Coming-of-age in a suppressive animated world -- 3.5 stars
Directed by Marjane Satrapi. June 2007, France. PG-13: 96 min.
(Originally published in buzz magazine on 2/23/2008)
Based on Marjane Satrapi’s autobiographical graphic novels, Persepolis
is an animated film made in France (Satrapi’s adopted home) that offers
Westerners the very unique experience of understanding life from the
perspective of an Iranian growing up in the 70s and 80s. Marjane was
born in 1969 to a Communist family who strove to break Iran free of the
dictatorial reign of the shah. Power did change hands in the late 70s,
but instead of ushering in a new era of free speech and civil liberty,
Ayatollah Khomeini’s conservative regime ensured a difficult life for
free thinkers.
Persepolis’s black-and-white animation goes places
photographed film cannot. For example, I can’t think of an effective
technique to show a character floating just above the clouds to heaven
and meeting with God that wouldn’t remind me of Bill & Ted’s Bogus
Journey. Yet in Satrapi’s vibrant two-dimensional world of pitch
blacks, bright whites, and subtle grays, Marjane’s occasional trips to
meet her maker during her dreams appear no less natural and believable
than her encounters with the authorities, her conversations with
nihilistic punksters during her stay in Vienna, and her run-ins with
death and destruction in her own neighborhood during the Iraq-Iran War.
I haven’t seen many animated features in the past year, so I’m
admittedly not much of an expert, but in an Oscar season when
everyone’s clamoring for a film about a gourmet chef rat to win Best
Animated Feature Film, Persepolis deserves a lot more buzz than
it receives. Perhaps its unashamed Marxist bent prevents it from
appealing to America as a whole. But its artistry is bold and
memorable, and it comes at a time when our nation needs to realize that
Iran is not one like minded mass of people who despise freedom. |