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I did enjoy Ratatouille, but I have to say that it's no longer my pick for best animated film of 2007. Persepolis is.
Beautiful black-and-white traditional animation. Incredibly interesting, informative and (chiefly) moving story about a woman (Marijan, the director of the film and the author of the graphic novels upon which it is based) through youth in Tehran, her teenaged years during which she was sent to safety in Vienna, and her return as an adult to her parents and her home. It's fiesty, it's funny, and more than a little enlightening about the history of Iran and the experience of a single person's struggle to come to terms with a culture that attempts to stifle her very vibrant personality (and her interest in pop music. There's a hell of a montage set to Marijan herself singing "Eye of the Tiger" that will remain very close to my heart for a long time.) I really recommend this film about family, culture, identity, and the feeling of being a stranger, in a foreign land or in your own. I think it may actually be my favorite film of 2007 (of those which I've seen so far; at this point we're only missing a handful from the For Your Consideration-type ads.)
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