Jumping at a free Tuesday night with no cell with a determination greater than an annoying cough, I secured tickets to watch a black and white French cartoon (or so I thought!) with Tessa. As it turned out, the entire dialogue was in English which delighted Tessa and disappointed me. Based on Marjane Sartrapi's graphic novels and directed by herself, PERSEPOLIS (the name of an old Persian ceremonial capital) depicts the life of a young Iranian girl growing up in strife-stricken Iran. Two things worked against her - her precociousness and unconventionality. I enjoyed the paradoxical love/hate America that pervaded in the dichotomy between public and private agendas. Amidst public sanctions against all Western influences was a thriving black market for all things Western. What is obvious and not obvious, what is freedom and not freedom, what is true and not true hangs on how one performs to different audiences; ie your level of hyprocrisy.
What I thought: freedom though desirable by many, is of no use if you don't know how to handle it.
I was clearing my throat throughout the movie! Interestingly, that same Friday, an American pastor of Germanian heritage (German/Iranian) spoke at the Vision Rally! Realized that perhaps that makes my nephew a Chinarian (Chinese/Iranian)!