Persepolis: A City Worth Visiting
Hayley Richardson | Thu, Feb 14th, 2008 | Category: Reviews | Tags: hayley richardson, film review, animation, persepolis, marjane satrapi, iran, julia alvarez, edwidge danticat, chador, war on terror
Persepolis, based on the 2003 graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi, is an autobiographical portrait of resistance in the face of suppression. It’s a poignant coming of age story that begins in pre-revolutionary Iran, where precocious Marjane is schooled in radical ideas by her left-wing, intellectual parents. As a child, she regularly constructs night-time conversations between Marx and God, and peppers her extended family with questions, many of whom were jailed for speaking out against the Shah.
Her life changes drastically in 1978, with the long heralded revolution that brought about a religious state in Iran. Daily life transforms radically under Islamic rule. Women are required to don the chador, and are forbidden from drawing attention to themselves. Her neighborhood is regularly bombed during the decade-long Iran-Iraq war, and the streets are patrolled with bearded rangers who jail and humiliate citizens for “indecent behavior.”
But what Persepolis hits home is that even under most restrictive circumstances, people always find a way to resist. Whether she’s wearing her tricked out sneakers or sweatshirt that exclaims “punk isn’t ded,” Marjane is a lively antidote to the drab cityscape of Tehran. She punctuates her world with emancipatory gasps, attending parties with smuggled wine, throwing off her veil while driving, and talking back to her teachers.
However, her parents worry about her safety as an outspoken young girl, and thus begins her diasporic journey. She is sent away to study in Vienna, but finds neither reassurance nor refuge. She tries to assimilate in the counterculture of eastern Europe, but can’t reconcile her core values as a woman of faith with the pervasive nihilism of her peers. She returns to Iran several years later, only to recognize that the home she knows no longer exists. The movie ends with her ultimate departure in 1994 to Paris.
The film’s simple black and white animation allows for moments of violent clarity, as Satrapi as a filmmaker ostensibly eschews the options presented to women in modern-day Iran. However, things are never as simple as they seem. In exile, she’s clearly found freedom, but it came at a tremendous price; the loss of home, family, and innocence. Her sense of self, however, has remained intact. So has her love for her country.
In creating Persepolis, Satrapi joins the pantheon of diasporic writers like Edwidge Danticat and Julia Alvarez, who have long demonstrated that speaking truth to power is best done from exile. It also does more for our understanding of the challenges facing our relationship with the Middle East than any nightly news special, or ill-conceived “war on terror” ever could.
For proof that Marjane Satrapi has emerged one of the most irreverent thinkers around, make sure to read this recent interview with New York Magazine.
Simmons Buntin in Tucson, AZ
Mon, Mar 03, 2008 at 10:43am
I have not yet seen the movie, though will soon, but the graphic memoir Persepolis is stunning. Thanks for the thoughtful movie review.