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Persepolis (2007)

Persepolis. Feature film. (2007, 96 mins) IMDB

...an animation film with a powerful story and refreshing visuals...

P

ERSEPOLIS is an animation film from France based on the life of its co-writer and co-director Marjane Satrapi. As a young girl in the 1970s, she grew up in Iran under the Shah. Saw the revolution that overthrew him and saw the rise of religious clerics who stamped out freedoms for women.

As a teenager she lived in Vienna, returned to Iran, married, divorced and finally left for good and a new life in France.

The story and images are compelling. It is refreshing to know a film can be made with hand drawings instead of bits of data in a computer.

The title and cover images are not particularly inviting, but that shouldn't stop someone from watching this film.

In watching the features on the DVD, I learned the film took a small army of artists to create the film over a three year period and yet the budget was only $7.5 million. That it was made, is an achievement, but that it is so engaging and revealing about life in Iran is the reward of watching it.

Posted 2009/04/23 at 19h19ET in Movie Commentary.

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