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Product Description: Persepolis is the poignant story of a young girl coming-of-age in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. It is through the eyes of precocious and outspoken nine-year-old Marjane that we see a people's hopes dashed as fundamentalists take power forcing the veil on women and imprisoning thousands. Clever and fearless she outsmarts the 'social guardians' and discovers punk ABBA and Iron Maiden. Yet when her uncle is senselessly executed and as bombs fall around Tehran in the Iran/Iraq war the daily fear that permeates life in Iran is palpable. As she gets older Marjane's boldness causes her parents to worry over her continued safety. And so at age fourteen they make the difficult decision to send her to school in Austria. Vulnerable and alone in a strange land she endures the typical ordeals of a teenager. In addition Marjane has to combat being equated with the religious fundamentalism and extremism she fled her country to escape. Over time she gains acceptance and even experiences love but after high school she finds herself alone and horribly homesick. Though it means putting on the veil and living in a tyrannical society Marjane decides to return to Iran to be close to her family. After a difficult period of adjustment she enters art school and marries all the while continuing to speak out against the hypocrisy she witnesses. At age 24 she realizes that while she is deeply Iranian she cannot live in Iran. She then makes the heartbreaking decision to leave her homeland for France optimistic about her future shaped indelibly by her past.System Requirements:Running Time: 95 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ANIMATION/ANIME Rating: PG-13 UPC: 043396225251 Manufacturer No: 22525 Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Fascinating Look at an Iranian Girl's Transformative JourneyHand-drawn animation, especially simple black-and-white drawings, is so rare to see on the big screen that one has to appreciate the emotional nakedness that Marjane Satrapi and her fellow cartoonist Vincent Paronnaud bring to this 2007 fictionalized memoir of Satrapi's formative years as the free-spirited daughter in a liberal Iranian family. The 95-minute film follows the same abstract style found in her best-selling autobiographical graphic novel, adding color for the present-day scenes and using a shadow theater approach to the historical sequences. The cumulative effect works well within the context of the story's volatile emotional changes as it alternates in quicksilver fashion between poignant, funny and harrowing. The film reminds me a bit of Mark Forster's adaptation of Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner, which also has a protagonist forced to live in exile due to the advent of war and tyranny. The difference is that Satrapi's family stayed in Tehran throughout the turmoil brought on by the Shah's overthrow, the oppressive fundamentalist regime that followed, and the Iran-Iraq war. Some of this comes across as a bit muddled, but the propulsive narrative drive and empathetic voice characterizations compensate greatly. The plot flashes back to Marjane's childhood in Iran during the 1970's as she gradually begins to understand how her family has been mistreated and imprisoned due to their Communist leanings under the Shah. Once the Islamic Revolution deposes of the Shah in 1979, ... Read More Rating:  - Stylish animated glimpse into a totalitarian theocracy This is a visually captivating movie, with graphics that are amazing in their starkness and simplicity. No overdone anime here, this comes from an European graphic novel by the heroine who had a lot of input (a la Frank Miller/Sin City). Everything is black and white, except for small flashes of color in Western locations. Politically, a fascinating story, starting out the Shah's overthrow in 1979 and the author's childhood and struggle to find a society to fit into. We are reminded that the Shah, though despotic, was happily supported by the West, for oil and anti-communism. Plus snippets of the 8 year long Iran-Iraq war. Later on, we are given a glimpse in what it might be like to grow up in a country where religious bigots impose their views on everyone. Like the ex-janitor who ends up running a hospital, probably because he can out-God the others. Or the policeman who threatens to rape a woman because her veil isn't modest enough. The plot? Well, this is not a screenplay, but "just" someone's life story. Big difference, so accept that things are bit slower than you might expect. I am not particularly anti-Islam myself. The West went through similar struggles with Christianity hundreds of years ago. The problem mostly isn't religion itself, it's a minority of the religious abusing their power to impose their flawed interpretation of their own religion. A perfect companion DVD to Orwell's Animal Farm. Rating: - Beautfiul and timely adaption of a great graphic novelI was giddy with nervous anticipation when I first heard that there was to be a film version of Marjane Satrapi's brilliant graphic novels about her childhood in Iran during the 1970s-1980s. I loved her autobiographical stories so much and was worried that a film version would be a total let-down. Fortunately and according to the extra features on the DVD, it seems that Satrapi herself was the key creative force behind the production of the film and dictated many aspects of how her animated characters should move, talk and behave. The result is an absolutely lovely and engaging film with stark but artistically rendered black and white animation. The story itself is a compelling combination of war narrative, adolescent angst and comedy and provides a peek into the world of Iran's fundamentalist regime. Rating: - PersepolisAMAZING! I would recommend this film to everyone. It's a wonderful story about coming to age during a turbulent time. A must see for anyone who has a heart and emotions. This film was heavy with comedic elements mixed throughout. It made me laugh, cry and really think. Don't be scared that it's a foreign film. You do have the option to play it in English, without subtitles. Definitely worth the money. Spoiler Alert: The ending is somewhat dissatisfying. Rating: - "Down with Shah Oppression! Up with ... Islamic Repression!!"PERSEPOLIS is a terrific film that portrays a young girl's coming of age process against the background of political change in Iran. The rule of the Shah is finally overthrown amidst much optimism for a better life. Instead, the Islamic Republic fundamentalists who take over turn out to be even more oppressive than the Shah. As The Who sang, "Meet the new boss/Same as the old boss." The film stops short of extending its time-line to the current Islamo-fascists and nuke-happy nut-job at Iran's helm currently. Not that the West comes off much better in this tale. Marjane - the main character - lives part of her life in Western Europe but finds that it has its own problems, though torture and religious inspired oppression does not seem to be among them. There are interesting and touching bits of dialogue between Marjane and God, trying to find meaning in the suffering that she witnesses. PERSEPOLIS is a wonderful film that casts a dismal pall over man's ability to get it right in the realm of political change. It is effective in spotlighting "man's inhumanity to man," and portraying the conflicts of an Iranian woman who is both rooted to and alienated from her homeland. 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