Dorkgasm Gonzo Is God

Au Rêve de L’Iran By Michael C. Riedlinger Editor-In-Chief             Marjane Satrapi was but a young girl when revolutionaries in Iran overthrew the Shah and began a period of unrest still felt in the nation today. Persepolis is Ms. Satrapi’s personal story, first presented to the world as a graphic novel, and now as an Academy Award nominated film. The film is now making its way to suburban theaters thanks to the awards buzz, but may struggle to find an audience despite that.             Persepolis is mostly Satrapi’s reflections on her formative years. We follow her first as a young girl in Tehran in 1978, struggling to learn about revolution from her liberal parents and her communist uncle. She is not spared the horrors of inhumane treatment from the dictatorial regime that rises to power in the Shah’s place. Her family struggles to make due with the life their nation forces them to lead, donning headscarves against their will, smuggling booze at parties, and Marjane even buys a black-market Iron Maiden tape on the streets. Eventually, life becomes frighteningly difficult for the family and they send their young daughter to a school in Vienna.

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            While there, we begin to see that Marjane isn’t learning just about politics and humanity, but life as a whole. Regardless of her unique perspective, the lessons she gleans apply to all of us, no matter where we are from. She faces racism, political ostracism, and sexism while in Europe, but she is free to live her life as she sees fit. After finding her boyfriend in bed with another woman, she lives on the streets of Vienna for a few months before finally calling her family and moving back to Tehran.             This all sounds so serious, so let me back off for a moment. Persepolis is a funny movie, with poignantly hysterical moments matched this season only by Juno. The relationship between Marjane and her parents feels real, but it is her relationship with her wily grandmother that has the most gravity. One moment Satrapi has us close to tears, sharing her emotional distress after marrying a man just so she can see him in public, and the next her grandmother has us rolling in the aisle, putting life back into perspective. We can tell, in both the performances and the way they are written, that Satrapi’s grandmother lived a full life and shared much of the knowledge she had gained throughout with her granddaughter.             Inevitably, Marjane Satrapi finds that she can only stand up to the political system in Iran for so long and thus must leave for Europe once again. The film ends on a somber note, reminding us that life is what we make of it. Being a French film, there is less syrupiness in this animated feature, appealing to a more mature audience than typical American animation. This is a more coherent film than The Triplets of Bellville and, more to the point, it is a film that matters more because it is less farcical. The humor here comes from the heart just as much as the rest of the story. See the film while you have the chance and it will give you a whole new perspective not only on Iran, but on life as well.