One of the most distinctive characteristics of recent Iranian cinema is its continued focus on childhood. Films like Majid Majidi’s acclaimed Children of Heaven present serious issues, such as poverty and loss, from a child’s perspective. Marjane Satrapi’s autobiographical Persepolis follows in this artistic vein, but does so through an entirely different format: the graphic novel. Recently translated from French, Persepolis is a funny, eloquent, and tragic tale of growing up Iranian.

From the beginning we are immersed in the world of 10-year-old Marji, a child growing up in the turbulent Iran of the late '70s. Marji is a happy child who dreams of becoming a religious prophet: “Every night I had a big discussion with God.” She begins reading at an early age and fantasizes about being a great hero who will liberate people from injustice. 

Unfortunately, the world around her can no longer sustain her childhood fantasies. As Marji and her family are engulfed in the Islamic Revolution, with its constant imprisonments and denouncements of things Western, she is forced to grow up and leave childhood behind. When her uncle Anoosh is jailed and executed, Marjane suffers her first crisis of faith: “I was lost, without any bearings…. What could be worse than that?”

Drawn in black and white, Satrapi’s art is stark but highly expressive. Its unusual format gives it the highly personal feel of a comic book. The characters look like those in any of today’s comic strips, but the severe contouring and dark backgrounds give Persepolis an almost macabre feel, appropriate to such a serious tale. 

As Iran’s war with Iraq progresses, the bombings and constant government surveillance slowly take their psychological toll on her family. She recalls the changes: “We [girls] found ourselves veiled and separated from our friends…in no time the way people dressed became an ideological sign.”

When Marji’s friend Neda dies in a bombing in Tehran, Marji breaks down: “No scream in the world could have relieved my suffering and my anger.” Satrapi’s Persepolis is a rare feat: history as viewed through a child’s eyes, told with surprising tenderness and depth.