Persepolis | Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve | a classic in its own rights and domain

Persepolis | Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve | Spellbinding!

DVDs:

Persepolis

	Persepolis Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve Sony Pictures, 2008 average customer review:based on 45 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Persepolis is the poignant story of a young girl coming-of-age in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. It is through the eyes of precocious and outspoken nine-year-old Marjane that we see a people's hopes dashed as fundamentalists take power forcing the veil on women and imprisoning thousands. Clever and fearless she outsmarts the "social guardians" and discovers punk ABBA and Iron Maiden. Yet when her uncle is senselessly executed and as bombs fall around Tehran in the Iran/Iraq war the daily fear that permeates life in Iran is palpable. As she gets older Marjane's boldness causes her parents to worry over her continued safety. And so at age fourteen they make the difficult decision to send her to school in Austria. Vulnerable and alone in a strange land she endures the typical ordeals of a teenager. In addition Marjane has to combat being equated with the religious fundamentalism and extremism she fled her country to escape. Over time she gains acceptance and even experiences love but after high school she finds herself alone and horribly homesick. Though it means putting on the veil and living in a tyrannical society Marjane decides to return to Iran to be close to her family. After a difficult period of adjustment she enters art school and marries all the while continuing to speak out against the hypocrisy she witnesses. At age 24 she realizes that while she is deeply Iranian she cannot live in Iran. She then makes the heartbreaking decision to leave her homeland for France optimistic about her future shaped indelibly by her past.System Requirements:Running Time: 95 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ANIMATION/ANIME Rating: PG-13 UPC: 043396225251 Manufacturer No: 22525

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a classic in its own rights and domain

I do not believe I have ever seen such a deep and touching animation movie - this is an absolute wonder and it treads in a domain which is difficult to explain and hard to understand - Iran (not Arab), Europe, the culture, the cultural classes, religion, politics - can it be any more complicated - but Vincent Paronnaud, Marjane Satrapi have been able to simplify all these complex issues into a simple story as seen through the eyes of the protagonist Marjane Satrapi. I feel very strongly about this probably because I have gone through many similar experiences (with different background) so when I was watching the movie , the truth in it almost made me cry.
We are used an Iran depicted by CNN and George Bush Administration but this is a very narrow and politicized view of Iran - Persia as a country has an enormous cultural roots and strong social fabric which the islamic rulers cannot destroy so easily and we also forget to realize that Islam (speacially the persian version) was not aggressive or brutal infact they gave us Rumi. Thye movie shows an amazing transformation of Iran through the last century - this transformation has never been produced so lucidly anywhere. It also shows that the subcultural of this liberal front in Iran has not died (not yet) and it still can germinate back again. The protagonist see the revolution (where Shah is removed), the war with Iraq - see gets support from her liberal grandma who represents the subculture of liberalism which never died. This movie probably shows the biggest difference between Iran and Arab nations (like Saudi) - most of the time we lump Iran in the same category with Arab nations but Persia was completely a different world.
Then when the protagonist moves to Europe for her studies - she faces the challenges of cultural differences and her inner battle of identity crisis - this depiction is poetic it is almost like somebody is reading from Albert Camus - sometimes the inner demons wins but finally she overcomes the hurdles and moves forward - the movie ends with an ray of hope - it shows that Iran can get back its own identity which is different from the Islamic identity.
Finally it brings out a potrait of the women of Iran - they can fight their own battle and do not need western sympathy - they understand their plight and they are involved in a struggle to change it - hope they can change - I have decided to buy this DVD

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Spellbinding!

The DVD was every bit as good as the book. Like most Americans who were well tuned into the Iranian hostage crisis, I had an extremly dim view of that country. Now, I understand that there is far more to Iran, that there are actually many decent people there.

A worm's eye view of Terhan's turbulant history

Sad, funny, heartbraking. And the people suffer for the decisions of our "leaders". I liked this simple story telling of complex middle eastern history. I thought it was very over-rated though. It was a bit too long for a cartoon, even though it was well done, it gets very tedious toward the end. Enjoy!

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Striking style, simplistic content...

I had read several reviews of this film before I saw it, and had come to expect something both cutting edge and offering a unique insight into the Iranian situation.
Instead I found a rather flat-footed retelling of the Iranian revolution where the height of the insight was that 'evil' regimes oppress women and don't let people have parties.

Nothing in this film tells us anything we don't already know, and instead of getting a sense that the Ayatollah genuinely infringed civil liberties or repressed free speech, he came across as a nasty party pooper who won't let our heroine have a social life.

She comes across just a tiny bit brattish rather than a genuine rebel and her outspokenness appears to be limited to one speech in a lecture theatre and some faux rebellions.

Although the animation is striking, it still doesn't feel very original, and the whole thing comes across like a graphic novel (which I believe it is), but more in the sense that it's a story simplified for 13 year-olds and is more concerned with making sure it doesn't alienate them than actually provoking thought or educating them.

Maybe I expected too much of, but it was just so-what for me. Disappointing.

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What went wrong!

With all do respect regarding all the work that went into making this wonderful film, I have one major critique. Since when do Iranians speak French? and why are they speaking French?
The French language is simply distracting, especially in the first half of the film. I constantly had to remind my self that this story is based in Iran and not in France, and only when I would hear an Iranian name!

There are many wonderful animations made in various languages and they seem to work majority of the time except for this particular story line, and for many reasons.
The animation is minimal/monochromatic, and cultural references are kept to a minimum even though the cultural identity of the film, and the cultural identity of the main character are very much the center pieces of the story. More importantly the writing is based on historical political events, and not just a simple satire.

As a result, looking at characters dressed in modern western clothes, calling out Iranian names in French accents makes one think that the characters are based in a home in Paris during the turmoils of Iranian revolution. With everyone in black and white, and a story based on such a major historical event just deserves some damn authenticity, and not characters who can barely pronounce their own names correctly.

I have one suggestion to the French speaking creators of Persepolis,lets make an animation film about the French revolution in Arabic only!! lets see how distracting that will be, or even better in Algerian..

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