Persepolis

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.

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.

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!

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

The effort to produce a fantastic disc about a serious subject was impressive and appreciated.