Persepolis
****
Voices of Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve, Danielle Darrieux
Directed by Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud
Rated PG-13
Opens Friday
Here’s a movie about the recent history of Iran that could never have been made in Iran. Come to think of it, it could never be made in America, either: a mostly black-and-white, hand-drawn animated feature about politics.
At age 9, Marjane Satrapi saw her entire world changed when the Islamic Revolution hit Tehran. Women were forced to wear the veil, and people—including Marjane’s beloved uncle—were being imprisoned and executed. In private, Marjane listens to her educated parents and their opinions on the war and its outcome. It fuels her imagination, and she seeks her own types of freedom, including bootleg cassettes of Iron Maiden. As a teenager, she travels to Austria but can’t make a home for herself there. Currently exiled in France, Satrapi finally told her story through a series of powerful graphic novels, now published in one volume.
Paired with co-director Paronnaud, Satrapi has turned her comics into a powerful animated feature (in French). Though the film leaves out the subtle and complex political nuances of the book in favor of speed and brevity, it’s also a good deal livelier and funnier. It’s a truly surprising and quite extraordinary achievement. I would take it over any of 2007’s digital movies about talking rats and bugs.