Marjane Satrapi er en original kunstner, som lager tegneserier om livet under sjahen, mullahene, og tilværelsen i eksil. Boken “Persepolis” er nå blitt film, med Satrapi som medreggissør.

Det er umulig å si hva som gjør Satrapi så fascinerende: Det er streken og måten hun forteller en historie på. Hun går ikke for mye opp i det politiske, likevel greier hun å få sagt mye om livet under ayatollahene. Filmen handler om oppveksten til jenta Marjane.

Grandma is the sturdy matriarchal anchor of “Persepolis,” a source of humor, advice and moral guidance for young Marjane, and also an embodiment of the film’s no-nonsense feminism. Like her grandmother, Marjane is a natural rebel, someone who takes freedom as her birthright and dares the world to challenge her.

Needless to say, the world obliges. Marjane grows up in a family of left-wing intellectuals who suffer first under the Shah’s dictatorship and then, as the triumphant Islamic revolutionaries turn on their secular allies, under the rule of the mullahs. This political history, which includes war, torture and execution, is conveyed with impressive economy and visual wit. The beards of male religious zealots — and the chadors of their female counterparts — are like black holes in the screen, sucking away the light.

In a Flat World, a Rebel With a Cause