By Sabrina Cognata

Usually, I am the last person that ever wants to see anything that’s animated and that’s for a very good reason—because I get so bored I typically fall asleep.  I mean, the second I see anything that resembles a cartoon I go straight to dreamy town.  Maybe it’s the colors and the flashing lights, but probably it’s the fact that I think it’s damn boring and lame before I even get a chance to watch it.  That’s judging and narrow mindedness and I am all right by that.  Sadly, I cannot maintain the ability to be entertained in a 4th grade way unless there is nudity involved, however, this film’s intense subject matter happens to help bypass my nudity law and I survived my trip to see it.

PERSEPOLIS is the story of Marjane Satrapi (Chiara Matroianni) a young girl raised in the social and political strife going on in Iran in the late 1970s.  It takes you throughout her journey as an Iranian woman and the tribulations facing her because of the oppression of her gender. I promise the movie is not as trite and boring as that last sentence.  The movie begins as political problems in Iran mount and Marji is a young girl.  As the Shah is overthrown her uncle, a political prisoner, is released and he explains to her the importance of standing up for what you believe in even if it means your freedom is jeopardized.  As the Satrapi family celebrates a new government is elected and ends up being worse than the Shah.  Marji’s uncle is arrested and sentenced to death.  His final request is to see Marji before he dies and his presence and circumstances change her forever. 


Marji takes his death as a sign for her to stand up against her government and she begins lashing out in class.  Her parents have no choice but to send her away, if for not other reason, but to save her from herself.  Marji goes to a French school in Austria where she manages to get into more trouble.  She’s immediately kicked out of the place her parents intended for her to stay and has to live in a convent.  A run-in with the nuns eventually leads her to start staying with anyone that will take her in.  Eventually, a relationship with a loser causes her to go bonkers and flip out on her landlord—she gets kicked out and lands on the streets.  The hardest part of her life is a result of a high school relationship gone wrong. 

A bad case of bronchitis lands Marji in the hospital and finally calls her parents for help.   They send for her and she returns to Iran.  Her experiences in Austria have made life in Iran hard to accept and she’s depressed for an exceptional amount of time.  After she’s put on medication she returns to school and finds that the oppression she’s facing is more than she can bare to handle.  The burgeoning relationship she has lands her in jail as she is caught with the man without a chaperone.  After this, the man she’s been dating says they should get married to deal with the situation and with no other options Marji agrees. 


Married life isn’t fun or nice and Marji quickly realizes that she hates her husband and marriage was a mistake.  She turns to her grandmother (Danielle Darrieux) for advice and is prompted with the unsettling news that a failed marriage is not a big deal and Marji is making a big deal out of nothing.  She realizes her grandmother is right and eventually tells her husband she wants out.  After her divorce is granted it becomes clear that she is not prepared for life in Iran—the oppression is more than she can deal with and she chooses to move to France to begin a new life.

The movie itself has a very basic charm that is refreshing for such a serious subject matter.  The integrity of the graphic novel is kept intact, partially due to the fact that the author was very involved in the creation and production of the film.  This is obviously a labor of love that is important to share with the world as there is a sense of fear about the Middle Eastern population that is due to ignorance and lack of information.