Persepolis

The departures board at Paris Orly at the beginning has Cincinnati misspelled as "Cincinatti".

Without a doubt one of my favorite films of all time. The first time I ran into Persepolis I had absolutely no idea what the film was or what it might be about, just sat down in a small town foreign film festival and started watching, and i was not disappointed to spend my time learning the story of Marjan.

Winning the Jury Prize at Cannes in 2007 and even getting a surprising Oscar nod in the Best Animated Feature category, PERSEPOLIS is more of a dramatic biography of one girl's life as she runs away from her country and her Iranian heritage.Most Americans are probably used to animated films being light, funny, or a combination of the two (thinking along the lines of FINDING NEMO).

The life of a young woman growing up before and after the revolution in Iran during the the late 1970's and early 1980's.Marjane Satrapi's animated version of her graphic novel left me scratching my head.

This animated autobiographical film follows the life journey of director Satrapi. Born in 1969 she spent her youth in Tehran, her adolescence in Vienna, her college days back in Iran, then emigrated to France.

As a young woman, Majane reflects on her journey this far in life – a journey that has taken her to be an outsider living in Europe but one that she recalls starting as a nine year old girl in Tehran, Iran. Here she was an enthusiastic young girl raised in an intelligent and liberal family who were rebelling against those in power – at the expense of some of her family being held in prison.

A finely crafted, ingeniously animated & emphatically told autobiographical account, Persepolis captures a Persian woman's coming-of-age journey during the historical Iranian Revolution and vehemently takes us through the life-changing events which played a key role in shaping her present self.Directed by Marjane Satrapi & Vincent Paronnoud, the story is as informative as it is personal and paints an interesting portrait of life in contemporary Iran.

"Thumbs up" for the cool black-and-white animation. In this day of blazing, computerized colors (which I also love), it was refreshing and fascinating to see artwork done in this fashion.

At least the Golden Globes put this film up against other great foreign films like Lust, Caution 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days The Kite Runner and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. It certainly belongs in that group rather than films like Ratatouille or Surf's Up as the Academy Awards determined.

Persepolis is an adaptation to the graphic novel that depicts Marjane Satrapi, a rebel by nature, growing up and maturing in the Shah's regime during the Islamic Revolution. Marjane's life is not as ordinary as anyone else's.