Adolescence, depression and heartbreaks are tough enough to handle as they are. Set them against the backdrop of the Islamic Revolution and you've got yourself a movie.
Adapted in fluid hand-drawn animation from Iranian Marjane Satrapi's graphic novel series, "Persepolis" is a first-person narrative about the storyteller's formative years, in which she was jerked about by sweeping cultural changes that threatened to rob her of her identity.
As a child, Marjane was a spunky rascal swimming in Western culture, wearing Adidas and emulating Bruce Lee. The revolution institutes hard-line religious authoritarianism under the guise of democracy, forcing Marjane to cover up in public and buy her coveted Iron Maiden cassette tapes from street dealers.
At school Marjane is told the veils she and her classmates are forced to wear symbolize freedom. The same could be disingenuously said of the bars that imprison all the protesters lucky enough to escape execution.
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Marjane's parents send their back-talking daughter to school in France, where she can indulge her interests, but she battles with alienation while falling in with punk nihilists. Crushed by youthful romances and living situations that don't pan out, she winds up sick and homeless before returning to Iran, where things start to get really crazy.
Satrapi's engrossing tale of self-doubt and discovery pops to life in the mostly black-and-white imagery, highlighted with occasional flashes of color. It would be easy to tell such a strife-filled story by painting herself as the heroic innocent, but Satrapi is as hard on herself as she is on her oppressors, acknowledging callow pompousness and cruelty as well as a painful moment in which she denies her heritage. Even at her worst — such as when Marjane gets herself out of a jam in Iran by having a man falsely arrested — she remains as imminently lovable as a little sister.
Satrapi, who directs along with collaborator Vincent Paronnaud, keeps the mood light and engaging by interspersing vivid life anecdotes with pretend conversations with God and Karl Marx. Subtle changes in the animation, including puppetlike movement in historical flashbacks that describe the mechanics of wars and political tales, add to the voluminous charm.
"Persepolis" is more than one of the finest animated films in years. It's a cultural Rosetta Stone, bridging disparate cultures with a universal language — the pain of growing up.
Review
Persepolis
***1/2
• Rated: PG-13 for mature thematic material including violent images, sexual references, language and brief drug content.
• Voice cast: Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve, Danielle Darrieux, Simon Abkarian.
• Directors: Vincent Paronnaud, Marjane Satrapi.
• Family call: Fine for teens.
• Et cetera: In various languages, with subtitles.
• Running time: 95 minutes.
