Review of Persepolis (2007) by Luis C — 07 Jan 2013

Based on Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical graphic novel of the same name. She also co-directed the film. The (primarily) black and white animation is really fantastic; it's simple, yet very beautiful & effective (Wikipedia: ''Marjane explained in a bonus feature on the DVD that this was so the place and the characters wouldn't look like foreigners in a foreign country but simply people in a country to show how easily a country can become like Iran. The present-day scenes are shown in color, while sections of the historic narrative resemble a shadow theater show.'').

The storyline is thoroughly engaging, finding the right combination of funny to go with intellectualism. Through the coming of age story of Statrapi, it rather brilliantly chronicles issues of society, religion, family and Iranian politics over the course of 2 decades. I'm scarcely familiar with the politics front, so I can't say anything about any biases. I'll be conservative with my ignorance and rate this 4/5, although I think it deserves a rating of about 4.5 or even 5/5. Definitely worth watching!