The Ayatollah Khomeini meets Iron Maiden in this spirited adaptation of Marjane Satrapi's celebrated graphic novel. When Iran's Islamic Revolution hits home, nine-year-old Marjane remains determined to discover all that life has to offer, including punk rock, boys and rebellion. After the fall of the Shah, the religious fundamentalism that sweeps the country (women must wear veils, rock 'n' roll is banned) takes a particular toll on the outspoken Marjane and her family. But even the Ayatollah himself can't keep a teenage girl down for long, and soon young Marjane is trading in pirated rock albums, wearing a "Punk Is Not Ded" (sic) t-shirt and sassing her teachers ("We've gone from 3,000 [political] prisoners under the Shah to 300,000 under you.").

There are even bigger problems on the horizon, however, and when the Iran-Iraq war explodes and Marjane's uncle is killed in the conflict, her parent's make the difficult decision to send their daughter abroad. At an Austrian boarding school, Marjane encounters an entirely new world of trouble including cheating boyfriends, schoolmates who treat her like a pariah and terrible homesickness. As a memoir of a family and place, Persepolis is at once intensely specific and utterly universal, and a potent reminder of the revolutionary power of art. Splendidly voiced by an all-star cast including Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve, Sean Penn and Iggy Pop.

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