Comparisons

I really didn't like Persepolis the movie; I much more preferred the book. I think the movie felt too condensed, as if it was given a set time limit and as much information as possible had to be crammed into that time allotment. There were a lot of things from the book that were missing from the movie. For instance, when Marji's four years spent in Austria were barely covered. The movie depicted all of her moves within one scene, making it appear as if all moves took place within a very short amount of time. The book talked about her stay at each house, her experiences there and the reasons for her leaving. It also talked about her mom's visit, which I think is way too important to leave out. Her mother's visit was important for Marji and was something she looked forward to. They spent so much time together and this was the first time they were really able to talk and catch up. I think this visit also gave Marji hope to keep going in Austria once she had gotten back into such a good mood. This was also the first time she had seen any family in years. The movie also excluded most of her drug problem, which was a hugely negative influence on her life. It was how she started her relationship with Marcus but also the reason why it ended. Overall, I was not very impressed with the movie and will just stick with the novel.

So far Beasts of No Nation really parrallels an information session I attended earlier this week. It was a documentary called The Invisible Children. It's about the child soldiers of Uganda and night commuters. These are children who travel and hide at night so as not be kidnapped by the rebel soldiers. Children as young as 5-7 are being kidnapped and turned into soldiers. Both the documentary and the novel are focused on war against the government but as far as I've gotten in the novel, neither one of them really have a clear reason for why they are at war. They just fight and that's all they know - death.