tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72430895370047121.post-57974756053814347692008-02-22T10:02:00.004-05:002008-02-22T11:03:58.271-05:00Marjane Satrapi was a young girl during the Iranian Revolution, and her crisp animated film <a href="http://www.sonyclassics.com/persepolis/">Persepolis</a> -- which has been playing for a few weeks now in places like <a href="http://www.google.com/movies?sc=1&hl=en&near=cambridge%2C+ma&rl=1">Cambridge</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/movies?sc=1&hl=en&near=worcester%2C+ma&rl=1">Worcester</a>, and <a href="http://www.google.com/movies?sc=1&hl=en&near=amherst%2C+ma&rl=1">Northampton</a> -- tells her story.<br /><br />High hopes for more freedom after the fall of the Shah were simply replaced with other forms of repression. Satrapi leaves Iran for Europe, twice, to escape the war with Iraq during the '80s and then the strictures of Iran's fundamentalist government, but the story of the film seems to be that you can never fully escape political upheaval and the denial of basic liberties in an entire country.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Persepolis</span> is a black-and-white film, but its politics aren't. It's an unflattering look at Iran, but it doesn't let the U.S. off the hook either. Among other things, the film illustrates the role the U.S. played in inspiring the Iranian Revolution (the Shah's hated torturers had CIA training), and the repression of fundamentalist Iran is a warning about where the downward spiral of denying basic liberties can lead -- in any country.Chris Otthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17428402219364828451noreply@blogger.com