Persepolis is a wonderful movie that won the Prix du Jury at 2007's Cannes Film Festival. Written by Marjane Satrapi, this film is a nautobiographical work that shows the life of a girl who grows up in Iran and experiences the changes of her country after the revolution of 1979. Needless to say, Iran made its complaints against the presentation of the movie at the film festival and accused France of being biased and using cinema as a political weapon. Persepolis is based on the comic strip made before by Satrapi and neither 
the film nor the comic are allowed in Iran. You may be wondering why is it rejected by Iranian authorities. Well, it is actually very simple. In the film, you can easily perceive the deceipt of the Iranian society and the discomfort that grew after the foundation of the Islamic republic in Iran for, after the fall of the Shah, the people did not receive the "independence and freedom" they were promised to have. There is plenty of information you can take out from the movie and it really helped me understand a little bit more the situation in Iran (the influence of the United States and the UK during all the process of the revolution, the communist ideas that were drowned, the mind control over youngsters by the Islamic forces, the war between Iraq and Iran, etc.), as well as to get interested in the country. However, what impressed me the most was the repression suffered by women.
the film nor the comic are allowed in Iran. You may be wondering why is it rejected by Iranian authorities. Well, it is actually very simple. In the film, you can easily perceive the deceipt of the Iranian society and the discomfort that grew after the foundation of the Islamic republic in Iran for, after the fall of the Shah, the people did not receive the "independence and freedom" they were promised to have. There is plenty of information you can take out from the movie and it really helped me understand a little bit more the situation in Iran (the influence of the United States and the UK during all the process of the revolution, the communist ideas that were drowned, the mind control over youngsters by the Islamic forces, the war between Iraq and Iran, etc.), as well as to get interested in the country. However, what impressed me the most was the repression suffered by women.I guess it was because I am a woman and the whole movie comes from a feminine perspective of the facts. I would've expected Iran to have more rights for the citizens after the revolution, but it seems it all happened the other way around... and that I find unconceivable, but there it is, it's true. We can see at the beginning how women are active in the revolution, how they follow western fashion, and how they behave more freely before the new government seized control. All of the sudden, their rights are embarrasingly reduced. Women began to dress up, completely covered from head to toe, specially if they were in front of a man. There is even a scene were Marjane is running and the police stops her, claiming her derrière moves indecently down her clothes. And if you didn't know, Iran is one of the top countries where more nose jobs are done. 
The main client? Women. If their face is what the only thing they can show, of course they'll try to make the best out of it., to feel as beautiful as far as the law permits it. Women were banned from singing in public and "western degradation" was prohibited by the law. You can see in the movie how Marjane has to illegaly buy Iron Maiden music and how some of her male friends had to escape from the police since they were partying with girls, with techno, alcohol, and western clothes. Women were turned into submissive creatures.
Surely, Marjane's story is not the only one. Women all across Iran might have suffered injustice due to the Islamic reforms and Iran can send some secret service police right now to kill me for saying all of this stuff, but I cannot tolerate this cruelty and tyranny. The actions of this regime have not only stayed in the surface, but it has psychologically penetrated women. In the West we have the media controlling our minds and in Iran they have religion-based codes making decisions for us. And I am not against Islam, but I'm in favor of human rights. So think about it. I know I wouldn't like to be left with little pieces of myself, of my body, my freedom and my mind and neither I can stand happily here knowing there's people, women, like me, forced to endure that kind of life.
The main client? Women. If their face is what the only thing they can show, of course they'll try to make the best out of it., to feel as beautiful as far as the law permits it. Women were banned from singing in public and "western degradation" was prohibited by the law. You can see in the movie how Marjane has to illegaly buy Iron Maiden music and how some of her male friends had to escape from the police since they were partying with girls, with techno, alcohol, and western clothes. Women were turned into submissive creatures.Surely, Marjane's story is not the only one. Women all across Iran might have suffered injustice due to the Islamic reforms and Iran can send some secret service police right now to kill me for saying all of this stuff, but I cannot tolerate this cruelty and tyranny. The actions of this regime have not only stayed in the surface, but it has psychologically penetrated women. In the West we have the media controlling our minds and in Iran they have religion-based codes making decisions for us. And I am not against Islam, but I'm in favor of human rights. So think about it. I know I wouldn't like to be left with little pieces of myself, of my body, my freedom and my mind and neither I can stand happily here knowing there's people, women, like me, forced to endure that kind of life.
