Persepolis

Rather than a film exposing the tyranny of the imams - though there is a bit of that - Persepolis turned out to be the story of how official repression - whether by the Palevi Shahs or by the revolutionary imams - seriously disrupted the upper middle class life of an Iranian girl and her extended family. In other words, this is a gussied up "coming of age" film about a young Persian woman and the bumps she encounters along the way to womanhood. I don't doubt that it must have been extraordinarily difficult to be growing up at the time of the downfall of the Shah, followed by the horrendous Iran-Iraq war, and by the current dictatorship of the imams, but this film presents only the young woman's self-centered view of all that. It's hard be sympathetic to a character who is complaining that a hospital bureaucrat used to be her window washer, or sympathetic to a character who refuses to leave Iran for another country because he might wind up as a taxi driver. Besides being egregiously insulting to the window washers and taxi drivers of the world - tens of thousands of whom have in real life sacrificed professional status in their home countries in order to secure a better life for their families in a new country - the characters in this animation seem to be nothing more than decent people who are very put out at having to modify their formerly happy, middle class existence, but privileged people always suffer in the wake of revolution, whether it's the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, the American revolution, or any other in which their privileges are curtailed. Despite that fact that this is really an interesting film, how it could possibly deserve all the accolades bestowed on it? There's certainly no danger of confusing this film with "Doctor Zhivago." Perhaps the critics thought that because it had an Iranian theme the film must be "important." Well, interesting, yes; but important? Hardly.

Iran story. Iranian lives. a girl. a revolution. and broken pieces of expectation. a black-white movie about a white-black tale. cold, cruel, realistic, impressive. map of sense search. reflection of each temptation to be more than a shadow. testimony, fresco, travel in the deep form of reality. short images, a lot of suggestions. a circle. gray, strange, cynical. innocence and its blood. crumbs of time and value of family. refuges and illusions. sure, an autobiography. at first sigh. in fact, more that. a construction who grows-up in every experience of public. a mixture of drawing, voice, music and memories. a ladder to last shelf. a tale. about small things. out of any definition.

The animation does an excellent job in conveying the true nature of a revolution to the audience through the eyes of one its own victims. It is as unbiased as can be, and it makes a familiar story to all Iranians familiar to the world. While telling the melancholic turn of a young girl's life, it tries its best to cover the highlights of what went on in Iran prior and after the so-called "Islamic Revolution". Comedy is used intelligently at right times in order to bring the audience out of the gloomy black and white atmosphere for at least a few seconds. The black and white context turns into color only in the end when supposedly the bright portion of Marjane's life begins. Overall, it is an admirable piece of art, "Absolutely"!

PERSEPOLIS is both a history lesson and a coming of age story. It succeeds on both accounts, though the way the two are grafted together is a bit more awkward in this cinematic retelling than in the original graphic novel. The animation is often stunning, blending classical Persian art styles with German expressionist gloom. Highly recommended for those looking for more adult animation.