Persepolis

Persepolis is an animated film from France, made in the year of 2007.  The main character is named Marjane, who was born and raised in Tehran.  Her middle-class family participated rallies again the Tehranian government regime.  Because of this, she experiences violence at a very young age.  Her parents eventually sent her off to a school in Austria because of the civil unrest happening in Tehran.  At first, Marjane has trouble fitting into the new environment since she has no friends.  Throughout her time in Austria, she moves to many different houses, in which she finally settles in a place owned by a group of nuns.  The first friends that Marjane makes are a group of punk rockers that believe that the government is corrupt.  The group of these rebel potheads introduce the music genre, heavy metal, to Marjane and bring her to a concert.  She eventually settles in and starts to enjoy her new "rebel" life.  This new Marjane started to get into trouble in school, as well as on the streets.  She also dates a couple of guys during her stay in Austria, but she breaks up with both of them.  Marjane starts to feel depressed and lonely, and she misses her parents.  As a result, she decided to move back to Tehran so she could live with her parents.  But this doesn't last long, since it was dangerous to live in Tehran because of war and protests against the Tehranian government.  Her parents then send her off to America so she could start a new life.

Marjane's life in Tehran doesn't really relate to life in America since there haven't been any wars on American soil, as opposed to Tehran.  Her stay in Austria, however, could relate to American life.  Some key similarities include the heavy metal music that was portrayed in this animated film, her group of rebel Anarchist friends and the catholic school that she attends.  This movie used a lot of great humor and narrative storytelling, which made it really enjoyable for me to watch.