With my limited knowledge of 2D animation and animation as a whole, I believe that if the idea is unique, the design good and story-telling all set, then it really doesn”t matter in what medium the idea is presented in. What strikes first when we hear documentary? Not many would have wanted to even think of seeing it on TV forget about buying tickets at a theatre. But documentaries like Farenheit 9/11 and An Inconvenient Truth not only got people buying tickets at theatres but also became hits. The other day I caught up with an amazing film - ”Persepolis”.
I first heard about it a week before I got to see Kung Fu Panda. It came on NDTV Lumiere and then next thing we know it was running in PVR Goregaon, but that never took me to the theatre to watch it because there was Kung Fu Panda, Hancock and the Dark Knight to watch. That’’s already Rs.500/- without the popcorn, Pepsi and steam corn and the rest of the junk food provided in halls to rake in on the moolah. But something told me to go and watch it. 2 things, I love political, social and cult films and secondly I was curious to see the film, knowing that it is 2D and that I too am working on a similar format, KTB. And trust you me this is a film worth a second look. If it weren”t the end of the month and all that jazz I would have seen the film twice already.
The simplicity at which the narrator gets into telling us her story is worth all credit. The animation is unique and though I might say that I have seen better animation before, there was something in this film that captivated me and got me hooked onto the screen as soon as I got into the theatre. There I was trying to catch every piece of the film (I am sure the theatre authorities might actually be cursing me by now for the amount of popcorn I might have fed the carpet). The way in which the colour black has been used in the film during the Flashback sequences adds to the beauty of the film. There is this one sequence where they show a teenager getting shot during a protest rally. Its just silhuettes that you see, BLACK, but I could feel the gun shot and see the redness in the blood that spread so slowly. There is another time in the film when they show the change in regime and how the Mullahs make Iran a Muslim state. Through out the film you can see women showing their hair but as soon as the regime changes you see a shot of only faces aligned symmetrically and our narrator is among them. Its later into the shot you realise that they”re all Burkha clad kids. The use of black is brilliant I must say.
The image is of another sequence that I totally loved. We have Marjane (the protagonist and narrator and not a code word for substance of psychoactive bliss) out to buy Rock cassettes from the Black Market. She finds a person selling Iron Maiden, and her happiness is short lived when 2 Burkha clad women catch her and start reprimanding her. The sequence completely blew me when we see the 2 Burkha clad women moving, slithering around Marjane just like snakes.
In whole the film conveys the idea very well with very little ado. The animation looks simple, the treatment simple the story very simple and the language very well used. Its film that has to be seen and relished. According to me there have been only 3 films that have left me stunned after the film ends - Forrest Gump (for sheer genius film making), Platoon and American Beauty. I have since added Persepolis to the list of Emme’’s favourites…
I”ll tell you what the film I believe is still running in Fame Malad, Inorbit Mall. If you”re interested in seeing something cool go get a grab of it. I would rate it 4.5 out of 5.
