'Persepolis' ultimately about people, not politics
"Persepolis" If you're looking for an alternative to the popcorn movies filling the multiplexes these days, see "Persepolis." Actually, see it anyway. The film is a small treasure - funny, heartwarming, thought-provoking and beautiful to look at.
Based on Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical graphic novel, "Persepolis" tells the story of Marjane, a charming, strong-willed girl growing up during the Islamic revolution in Iran. Satrapi wrote and co-directed this adaptation, which uses simple black-and-white animation to re-create the drawings from her book.
Life is pretty good for 9-year-old Marjane in late-'70s Tehran. She's an only child with caring, well-educated and liberal parents who encourage her to be independent in both mind and deed. She enjoys a close relationship with her feisty grandmother. And her country appears ready to embrace freedom by ending the dictatorial rule of the Shah.
But freedom doesn't follow the Shah's ouster. Instead, a fundamentalist Islamic regime takes control. Now, Marjane and all other women have to wear head scarves when out in public. Relatives and friends are jailed, sometimes tortured. And missiles fly after Iraq declares war on Iran.
Satrapi doesn't sugarcoat the misery caused by the revolution, but she tempers the grimness by filtering the story's events through the eyes of her young heroine, who remains as spunky as ever. In school, Marjane speaks out against her teachers. She buys black-market Iron Maiden tapes. And in a particularly charming act of defiance, she wears a "Punk is not dead" jacket over her government-approved clothes.
Soon, though, Marjane's boldness puts her in danger, and her parents decide to send her away to a school in Vienna. The second half of the movie shows how Marjane adjusts to life in Europe, handles the guilt she feels for leaving her family and deals with her own awkward march to adulthood (including a hilarious first encounter with love). As she grows, Marjane must decide whether it's possible to be truly Iranian without actually living in Iran.
Audiences might be wary of "Persepolis" because its setting makes it seem like a political film. Certainly, Satrapi makes some political statements here, but they stay buried below the warm human story that this movie tells, a story that hits home even if you know nothing about Iran. After all, who has never felt like an outsider at least once in their lives? Who hasn't struggled with questions of personal identity? Who didn't feel ugly as a teenager?
The animation in "Persepolis" is elegant and simple, the perfect way to bring us into this story, and the voice actors all do fantastic jobs. For those of you who don't like subtitles, the DVD includes an English-language version that features Sean Penn, Iggy Pop and Gena Rowlands. Also on the DVD are making-of featurettes, a Q&A with the cast and crew from the 2007 Cannes Film Festival and commentary from Satrapi on selected scenes. (PG-13; Sony, $29.95)
"The Spiderwick Chronicles" (two-disc collector's edition) Harry Potter is either the best or worst thing to happen to children's fantasy. On the one hand, Harry seems to have raised the entire genre to new heights of popularity. But on the other, it's hard for other fantasy series to step out of the Potter shadow.
The latest example of this is "The Spiderwick Chronicles," an adventure film based on a best-selling book series. The three Grace children move with their mom into the old country house formerly owned by their eccentric uncle Spiderwick. As soon as they arrive, little Jared Grace notices strange things happening: bumps and noises he can't explain, items that disappear suddenly. It turns out that the house is the center of an 80-year battle between Uncle Spiderwick and Mulgarath, a vicious ogre who employs an army of goblins and other digital beasties. Can the Grace kids keep Mulgarath from taking over the world?
As a children's film, "Spiderwick" is pretty good, though it delivers some scares that might be too intense for really young viewers. But to me, the film felt like warmed-over Harry Potter and "Lord of the Rings" moments. The two-disc DVD comes loaded with family-friendly special features, including featurettes that delve more deeply into the Spiderwick world. (PG; Paramount, $36.99)
"In Bruges" This hilarious, profane and bloody crime film might be more style than substance, but so what? Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson play hitmen hiding out in the picturesque Belgian city of Bruges after a job in London. The two walk the town's beautiful streets, gabbing endlessly about life and beer and salvation, waiting to hear from their boss about their next move. When the boss, played by Ralph Fiennes, finally gives them his orders, it touches off a violent chain reaction with grave consequences for all three. Farrell and Gleeson have great chemistry as the odd-couple assassins, and Fiennes rocks as the cockney mob boss (he's a tamer version of the character Ben Kingsley played in "Sexy Beast"). What does it all mean in the end? Not very much, probably. But the movie is funny and entertaining from start to finish, and sometimes, that's all I need. The DVD includes deleted scenes and a look at the town of Bruges. (R; Universal, $29.98)