The film Persepolis is an extraordinary film. I was in love after seeing it. Firstly, I was immediately skeptical when I started watching it. I was worried it would be a stereotypical Hollywood film that is political correct and comes to predictable conclusions. It is not at all like that. It’s not from Hollywood. The most surprising thing about it was that it was an animated film but that did not bother me and it allowed the creators of film to the characters do things that would be physically impossible in real life. Although, I knew I was watching an animated film, I somehow became lost in stunning presentation before me. The way the young girl in the movie describes growing up during the Iranian revolution is altogether shocking and humorous. The writers and drawers and sound editors, interjected humor and seriousness in just the right spots in the film. Take for instance the scene where a young and as usual, rebellious Marji goes out to by boot leg “Iron Maiden” music tracks. After being caught, she pleads her case to them, under the guise of an abused young girl, who is ignorant of the seriousness of her crime. As she cries, cowers and pleads with the authority figures, the music drowns out like a tape ending too soon and the women roll their eyes and walk away. Marji escapes, goes back to her home with her music and seen by her confused mother (who of course, like all mothers has lost the ability to understand her daughter) head-banging to heavy metal later on. In the same way that Marji proudly tells her shocked and awed friends of her uncle’s torture and resistance in prison, Marji too resists the laws of Iran and continues playing her Western heavy-metal music and dressing as “punk” as she can.
One of the most interesting things about the film is that it is in French. I wondered as I watched the film, why it was in French and what would lead French film makers to make a film such as this and why the decision was made to make an animated film about such a serious subject. As Marji grows up throughout the film, Marji does not just talk about her own political and social revolution in the political sense, Marji also allows viewers to see her life “away” from politics as she travels around Europe trying to stay safe. She befriends anarchist Americans and other internationals, deals with Catholic nuns, losing her virginity, sex, sexuality and cheating boyfriends. She also deals with depression, homelessness, hunger, the danger of homeless and severe illness. At one point, it is suggested that is awoken during one night on the street and that she may have been assaulted, even raped. She insists that her family not ask her about her hospital stay and why she has not called for 2 months. She is happy to be home, irratated that it has not changed since she left and the ignorance and shock of those she left behind at her life. For instance, she is particularly perturbed when gussied up girls ask her about sex and shocked to learn that not only is she not a virgin but that Marji has had sex with more than one man (and perhaps may have dabbled in homosexuality?). She still desires to speak out against the government but after too many close calls, her family forces her to go abroad again, this time for good and she is never to return to Iran. Although Marji is glad to be free of Iran that is no longer truly her home, as it is to much changed, she is sad to leave her family knowing the danger that they will be in and that she may never see them again. In fact, by the end of the movie, her grandmother dies and she never saw her again. We do not know if her parents later join her or if they too parish. By the end of the movie, she stops hiding her true Iranian identity and admits to the taxi driver that she is in fact, Iranian. She has kept her promise to her grandmother to never forget herself, her family, her faith, her country, her people or her heritage no matter where she may go. I would definitely recommend that EVERYONE see this film. It is incredible and I hope to get my own DVD copy one day. Worthy of every award offered to it.