This animated film is not a children's movie by any means. The topics in Persepolis are tough; war, rape, alienation, death, torture. But the film is a minor miracle.
It starts in Iran, ruled by the Shah, and focuses on a family of people who want a democratically elected government. Some members of the family have been imprisoned or killed by the Shah's regime. The daughter Marjane is the main character, and we follow her in a country that is soon free of the Shah, but falls into the tyranny of the fundamentalist ayatollahs. A theocracy that is maybe worse the dictatorship before.
Her family decides to send Marjane to Vienna for her safety, but she does not fit in very well there, and ends up homeless, living on the streets. She longs for home, and so returns to Iran.
I won't tell the whole story of plot, but it shows the life many people in Iran live. Closed and afraid, but still hopeful that better will come. The film is also interesting for their view of the U.S., as supporters of the Shah (a family member was tortured by someone trained by the CIA) and as arms dealers during the Iraq/Iran war, dealing to both sides.
The animation is not Disney or Pixar...it is stylistic and inventive, using color and tone to help convey moods. It is well drawn, and the characters seem like real people.
It is ultimately a story about individuality, and repression, about a person trying to be whole.
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