Hmm....this is downright baffling. Why have I not written anything about Persepolis? It's an absolutely smashing movie, and Marjane Satrapi's graphic novel is even better. This movie should be required viewing for all animation lovers, and everybody with daughters and sisters. It was a great thrill to watch on the very large screen at the Uptown Theater in Minneapolis, and afterwords I rushed out to buy the graphic novel. Marcela currently has the book right now, and she should have that thing finished by now....right, Marcee?
These Blu-Ray screenshots come from the Blu-Ray.com forums, which is an impressive source for all things BD. These shots look spectacular, really spectacular. Everything is very clear and sharp, with none of the dithering pixelation of the old DVD format. The black-and-white style, which mirrors the comic, is lush with detail and saturation. There's also a bit of homage to classic silent-era cartoons, and that's one area where the movie asserts its own identity. Of course, it helps that Satrapi co-directed the film, so her creative vision remains intact.
Persepolis is a favorite movie of mine, one of those great movies that you talk about all year. The events in Iran following their stolen election only make Satrapi's memoir all the more relevant.
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Persia has a proud, millennia-old heritage, but has had to deal with literally 14 centuries of totalitarian theocracy, the Khomeinist regime merely being a more militant and overtly genocidal modern-day revival of Qajar-dynasty tyranny. I don't think the Iranians will be able to pull an Ataturk any time soon, sadly; the basiji and the Hamas/Hizbollah thugs, under orders from the mullahs, will continue to massacre the young demonstrators, justifying it as cleansing the state of "mushrikun", or apostates, whose lives are deemed forfeit under Shari'a, the totalitarian legal code compiled by Islamic theologians and jurisconsults in the decades after the death of Mohammed and based on a strict reading of the Quran and Hadith. We must not abandon the many dissidents who have risked their lives for liberty, carrying on with an inspiringly genuine and heroic revolutionary fervor, but we must also remember those within Iran who have no recourse to justice, self-defense, or open speech at all, whose rights are violated on a daily basis, who are subject constantly to discrimination, segregation, harassment, arbitrary punishment, and contemptuous semi-tolerance--the non-Muslims of Iran.
On my twitter (http://twitter.com/philip_daniel) I've linked to an article on the continuing persecution of (indigenous) religious minorities under the Iranian brand of Shari'a, if you're interested. Here's the link: http://tiny.cc/oIFoi
Along with the continuing brutality against the demonstrators, the seemingly endless discrimination and humiliation of Jews, Zoroastrians, Christians, Mandeans, and Bahais should garner our concern. The tragedy of dhimmitude (www.dhimmitude.org) ravages on in Persia, and yet very few in the West are the least bit willing to speak out...
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