To make a long story short, I wasn't all that impressed with the last movie Signs and Wonders showed.
Now to make a short story long, here's why.
Given what we know about communism from history, I was a little put off by the idea that some of the characters were making pro-Marxist statements in the context of freedom from the oppression they were under. Historically, people who fought communist revolutions to overthrow oppression simply exchanged one form of oppression with communist oppression. I personally hate communism and feel very threatened by it, considering how it pretends to be a way to utopia and equality but in reality, has slaughtered more people in the history of mankind than any other ideology out there.
That was just a small part of the movie, however, and there were other things.
There just wasn't much to this movie. It seemed to be a 'day in a life' story with no real resolution. The main character makes a ton of wrong choices that mess her up in some way, and the end tells us nothing about how she will pull herself out of her problems. Things just are the way they are. Is this art? Maybe, but I believe there is such a thing as bad art. One scene in particular really rubbed me the wrong way. The main character's marriage in on the rocks and she is weeping about it in the kitchen. Her grandmother (who is supposed to be a wise character) asks her what's wrong and the main character tells her.
Her grandmother's response is essentially this: "What? That's what your crying about? Come on! I thought someone had died."
Then her grandmother proudly elaborates on how she got a divorce when "no one got divorced." She then tells her granddaughter not to cry and just ditch the guy.
Wonderful. I don't know about you, but people who have such a cavalier attitude towards marriage kind of bug me because their influence has helped separated countless couples and hurt countless kids.
This is not to say that Persepolis was a total waste. It had it's moments. But I think it remains only mildly okay, at best.
I totally agree with the grandmother part! i have seen the movie before and i was not pleased (I almost slept through it) and found it never ending. it doesn't resolve anything in her life really and it was annoying at times. I understand that that was her life but i don't get why the movie was such a hit.
ReplyDeleteHmmm...wish I could have been there to hear the discussion afterward. For me this film is a beautifully crafted widow into a world that is very different than my own. We in the West have a hard time imagining the courage it would take to live under such rules. Good or bad personal choices aside the film makes me thankful for the freedom I have here in the states.
ReplyDeletePart of good reading is to suspend judgement long enough to empathize with the voice in the story. Some films are harder to do that with than others.