Film Hick: Persepolis (2007) by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud

 

 

I hadn\’t watched a subtitled film in a while (strange because I used to watch them all the time) but this film captured me very quickly. Animation kind of slides serious matters in under your defences, and like Maus and Where The Wind Blows you find yourself being educated, witnessing the humanisation of a sector of people you had never thought about, and being entertained, all in one.

I started reading and got distracted from the graphic novel, which I have to say I was enjoying, but this held my attention throughout. The skilful way in which an animation manipulated image can have a literal and a metaphorical meaning and move a narrative along in a way that a normal film sometimes cannot. This was beautiful, heart-warming, upsetting in some parts, educational in others, and full of hope for humanity despite the horrors and despair they are capable of creating.