Review for Persepolis

Director: Marjane Satrapi

Released: 2007
Genre: Animation/Autobiography

Recently, the Islamic Republic of Iran has been the subject of international scrutiny. The hotly contested June 2009 election result has deepened political divides among the populace and called the reactionary government's legitimacy into question. Because of my interest in revolutions and revolts (I enrolled in an honors class on the subject last spring), I have studied Iran's muddled internal affairs extensively. I am particularly upset that a string of celebrity deaths in America has brought an end to most attempts at covering the tumultuous event. Even the BBC news, a bastion of relative neutrality, has largely followed suit. The fractured political landscape of Iran makes America's problems with bipartisanism seem trivial by comparison- I personally think it and other world crises warrant more attention than Michael Jackson's memorial service. Persepolis deals with the issues at the root of the Iran's current domestic crisis, problems that many leaders in the regime do not want to acknowledge. Consequently, the movie has only grown in relevence since the election protests of last month.

Persepolis is an autobiographical account, relating Iran's unique and storied history through the eyes of the film's writer and director, Marjane Satrapi. It begins with Satrapi at an airport, a young adult who is now an Iranian expatriate. As she sits dejectedly in a waiting lounge, she dwells on the past events of her life, from the time she was a child during the Shah's reign until the moment she boards a plane to France after promising her mother she will never return to her home country. In that stretch of time, Satrapi and her middle class family have suffered immensely at the hands of Iran's revolutionary government; several of her friends and family members are killed, political rights and civil liberties are severely restricted, and she ultimately feels ashamed to be Iranian.

The movie is very creatively animated; I would describe the visuals as a cross between The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker video game and the Disney cartoon Steamboat Willie. I was initially skeptical as to the effectiveness of the presentation, but my reservations were put to rest during the shadow puppet depiction of the Shah's rise to power. Trust me: watching a cartooned American ambassador floating around the screen and convincing Reza Pahlavi to become an emperor is very entertaining. The music features a mash up of rock numbers, including an amusing, caricaturized rendition of a typical Iron Maiden song. Such stylistic quirks help to make Persepolis very memorable film.

When it was first released during the summer of 2007, Persepolis stirred up a fair amount of controversy. It was initially banned from being shown in Iran, as well as in several other countries that cooperated with the Iranian government's request that it not be distributed. I believe that Satrapi harbors a pretty objective view on the whole situation, though- at least as objective as possible, considering her upbringing in the midst of a chaotic cultural and political upheaval.

Persepolis was nominated for the best animated feature film Oscar at the 2008 Academy Awards, but lost to Pixar's Ratatouille. Granted, I enjoyed Ratatouille very much, but Persepolis substitutes state of the art computer wizardry for a compelling and historically relevant story, and should have been better recognized for it.

3.25/4.00