Persepolis

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Persepolis, directed by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud and based on Satrapi’s graphic novel of the same name, hits theaters on Christmas. The animated film is based on Satrapi’s experiences growing up during the Islamic Revolution in Iran, bumming around Europe, and of course coming to valuable realizations about nationality, gender, and family.

In many ways it’s a traditional coming-of-age tale, but with a few fresh twists. Persepolis maintains much of the episodic, meandering quality common to graphic novels, which works both for and against the film. The final product succeeds, mainly due to the way that the simple hand-drawn aesthetic illustrates deceptively simple childhood memories. The amusing misadventures of precocious young Marji play like a darkly self-aware Pinocchio. Comic moments bely the seriousness of the issues that surface in the film. Truly gut-wrenching scenes of her activist relatives being imprisoned and killed are buttressed by sequences that poke fun at the absurdity of fascism. In one scene, Marji is forced to buy cassette tapes of Iron Maiden and Michael Jackson from trench-coated street pushers.

But can it stop World War III? More thoughts after the jump:

Apart from just being a good film, I was thrilled to see Persepolis add to the number of really wonderful films either made in Iran or by Iranian artists (many of whom are in exile). I’m thinking particularly of the films of Majid Majidi, especially Color of Paradise and Children of Heaven. While neither film deals with political subject matter, they both paint such a tender picture of humanity, and especially of children, that once the credits roll the idea of going to war with Iran sounds about as attractive as drowning puppies.

I have this old book from the early 80s called Future Communication. It’s one of those that makes comically misguided (but straight-faced) predictions about the role of technology in the 21st century. In it, the author claims that once high speed voice and data transfer spans the globe, there will be no war. How could you fight someone who you can see and communicate with instantly? We’ll be a global village!

While I doubt that we will be dropping MacBooks with built-in iSight cameras into Iran and Iraq anytime soon, movies like Persepolis are a step in the right direction.