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Sunday, October 24, 2010

Persepolis 02/22/08

Here we have the trifecta of sure things to scare away an audience. This movie is a foreign film with subtitles, its in black and white, and it is old school animation. For the first time in my movie theater experience I had the entire theater to myself. Not a single other person was there. 
This movie is certainly not popular entertainment. It is the story of an Iranian girl whose life is ruptured and destroyed by the Iranian Revolution in 1979 that seperated her from her family and made her an outcast in her own country. This movie is a very personal testament to what happens to normal people in a war. We tend to forget how bombs affect those civilians and families that find themselves in the path of larger forces. This girl was torn from her home and sent in a foreign country that wasn't very receptive of her. To think if she had lived in a different time she could have been a talented productive individual. Her life would have been better. This isn't an anti war film but connect the dots. We learn a lot about the Iran's history from the eyes of an intelligent tolerate moderate family. It seems that the radical Islamic militancy we see today is a form of blowback, a result of wars and revolutions, many of them instigated or made worse by Western powers. This film is smart and touching but above all personal. If you find people interesting than this movie is for you. If like most of the movie going public that go to the movies not to think or learn than please steer clear. It will bore you to tears.

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