Persepolis (Vincent Paronnaud, Marjane Satrapi, 2007): France | USA
Reviewed by Sara Dinari. Viewed on DVD.
Persepolis is a French animated film. It is an autobiographical film created after the novel by the writer and director herself, Marjane Satrapi. This film evokes many different emotions as it goes through the many different stages of a young woman’s adolescence. The film is an autobiographical tail of Marji, a young Persian woman who was just a child during the Persian revolution of the 1970s.
From the start of the film, the somewhat graphic animation goes in-depth in the lives of many Persian families. From “Marji” the main characters family to the surrounding families in their neighborhood. The many different reactions and opinions of the families where clearly exposed. Showing the many mobs and demonstrations throughout the main city of Tehran, the film gives the viewer an idea of what kind of place the citizens lived in. As animated shots of “Marji” looking out of her bedroom window are shown, you see thousands of people walking past her chanting “Death to the Shah”. It shows the before and after effects of the arrival of the Mullahs and the many different changes that slowly began to occur in the country.
Thinking that the country was changing for the better; Marji’s family where also supporters of the over throwing of the Shah. However, within a few years as shown in the film, the family and others begin to question the new government as they begin to see not only their own family members die in wake of the new dictators but others around them as well. The ideal transition was not a success the people soon realized.
Marji’s family soon began to see that the country was no longer safe for young women such as Marji and she was sent abroad to Europe to continue her education. The film begins to expose the racial aspects of an Iranian woman living in a foreign country and what a hard transition in can be. The culture shock that Marji experienced is similar to those that any teenager, would leaving their homeland alone.
The film explains in detail the response of the people of Iran to the dictatorship they were tricked into. Also this film sheds some light on the situations in Iran and the middle east as a whole as it moves through the times until present day.
As an Iranian American who has not been very closely in-touch with her culture, I was very touched and moved by this animated masterpiece. Evoking emotions that I did not feel would be exposed, this film had humor, action, thrill, mystery, romance and even a touch of documentation.
I find it a brilliant film that must be seen by all.
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