Persepolis

One realizes how unique the movie Persepolis is when noticing how simple the director, Satarpi, presents her ideas. The movie is actually based on the director’s book, and similarly consists of drawings in black and white that tell the story of how a young girl develops through the various changes occurring in Iran.

The grandmother is a symbol of the feminism spread through Persepolis. She offers Marjane advice throughout the movie. I saw a lot of similarities between Marjane and the grandmother in the sense that she is confident in attaining her liberties and freedoms and is up for the challenges that she faces with the political changes occurring in pre and post revolutionary Iran.





Marjane’s family suffered under the Shah’s dictatorship, and continues to feel such restrains in freedom when the Islamic revolutionaries are triumphant in their revolt. The political perspective of the events is conveyed impressively and the audience becomes aware of all the executions and terrors of war that occurred as a result of this series of unfortunate events. The beards on the men, and the veils on the women are drawn with pitch black colors, giving the audience the sense that they were being forced upon the individuals and taking away their freedom of choice.

Marjane is presented as somewhat of a drama queen, particularly when her parents decide to send her to Austria, and when she gets into European culture, falling in love with punk rock for example. This creates a dilemma for Marjane which many people who leave their countries of origin face. She begins to consider whether it is possible to sacrifice all her freedoms and return home, even if it costs losing her individuality.

The movie is able to show the direct implications of the Islamic revolution and the Iraq-Iran war on the youth. During the war, the Iranian army would come to various areas around the countries, the poorer areas in specific, in an attempt to brainwash the children and convince them that life is worthless if it does not involve them fighting for their country. They are taught that their death will be a fortunate event and are promised paradise with death. A key given to each of these boys symbolizes Paradise. The fact that the key is made of plastic and painted gold actually deflates the whole notion of serving one’s country. The Iranian army would exploit the poverty experienced by a large percentage of the population to get them to see the “benefits” of enrolling in the army and sacrificing their lives for their country.

The Iranians are misinterpreting the Islamic religion, falsely conveying that it demands the availability of child soldiers to fight for their country. Such actions reject the foundation of family, a pillar in Islamic religion, and only make individuals lose faith in their country and in their religion.

Rana's Wedding

The movie Rana's wedding, revolves around the title character Rana, and presents several themes. Rana’s mother dies when Rana is a young girl. Naturally, growing up in Jerusalem, Rana had to live under her father’s ways. From the beginning of the movie we figure out that Rana’s father believes that she is still too young for marriage, but if she insists on getting married, he formulates a list of “suitable grooms”. The men he dubs suitable are educated (either doctors or engineers) and come from a good and well known family. He tells her that if she doesn’t decide on marrying someone from the list by the end of the week (specifically Tuesday at 4 p.m.) she has to go to Cairo with him and study there.

Coming from the Middle East, it isn’t a surprise to me that her father has certain requirements pertaining to the groom his daughter is to wed. Usually, a father wants his daughter to marry someone from the same or higher social class. Being a doctor or engineer alone gives a groom an incredible advantage over any one else working in another field. Films always show how the Arab females always have decisions made for them instead of being independent. I thought this was going to be another typical movie portraying the view that women have no choice when it comes to marriage, or any other decision for the matter. It was refreshing to see in the end Rana is able to marry the man she wants, even though he wasn't on her father's list.

In the movie, Rana decides to leave her home, to go look for her true love Khalil, and bring him back so they can get married. She runs through the old streets of Jerusalem looking for him. She kept repeating to herself "I don't want to be scared anymore", yet during her search, she freezes in fear when she comes across a harmless looking stray dog. Another point I noticed when watching the movie, was the emphasis on the empty streets and religious symbols. A lot of Christian Crosses were shown painted on doors, or on necklaces and I felt that while Rana was running she was frantically rubbing her neck as if she had a necklace on, as if feeling like an outsider to the rest of the individuals in her community.

I didn't particularly like the film, I felt the topic had a lot of potential but wasn't properly expressed. Scenes like the rocks vs bullets (where the child was shot after throwing rocks at the Israeli soldiers) and the songs being played in the car to reflect Rana's thoughts are ("we've forgotten how to feel and love") could have been placed at different times in the movie so they can emit their full strength and message.Still, at least some sort of light is shed on contemporary issues facing not only women in the West Bank, but in the Arab World as a whole. These issues include social status, religious persecution, cultural traditions, and women's rights. The film is also able to help the Palestinian community, wish has the minimum amount of human rights, have somewhat of a voice in the global society.