The screen is black. It is quiet for a few seconds. There is an ear-shattering bang, and the scene cuts to a slow-motion shot of a girl sprinting, a tear running down her face. As she approaches the police tape, she breaks down into tears. Marjane Satrapi cries out at the sight before her.
Marjane is a teenage girl living in Iran during the Iran-Iraq war. She lives with her mother and father, and they are not the type of people to conform to the new ideologies of the imposing regime. They are 'Westernized', and enjoy Western cultural icons, such as Iron maiden and Michael Jackson. Their Western habits prove difficult to live with in wartime Iran, particularly for Marjane, who, accustomed to a freer Iran, expresses her unique passions and desires.…show more content… "The Shabbat” tells the story of Marjane going out for the day with a friend, only to be informed that her neighbourhood has been bombed. Desperate to discover her family’s fate, Marjane races through the city of Tehran to get home and find her family. She arrives to find her street taped off by the army; a bomb has hit a house at the end of the street. Marjane knows the destroyed house is either her house or her Jewish neighbour's, The Baba-Levys. A soldier allows Marjane past the border tape, and she finds her family safe and alive. Marjane realizes the Baba-Levy's house is no longer standing, but is comforted in the fact that they were not home during the bombing; they had been holing up in a hotel basement to escape the imminent dangers of the Iran-Iraq war. Marjane's mother, Taji, points out that it is Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, and "wherever they are, Jews...go home on the Sabbath" (Satrapi…show more content… The first scene shows Marjane running for her home, desperate to discover the fate of her family, erupting into tears upon seeing her street blocked off. What the audience does not know is that she is crying tear of joy; she discovers her family is safe. The scene ends with Marjane’s tears, leaving the audience to assume the worst. This scene not only entices the audience and makes them wonder what happened, but Marjane’s desperation illustrates the fact that something terrible has happened. As the series progresses, the audience is given the circumstances and events leading up to the very first scene they saw. The series ends with a seemingly happy ending, when Marjane finds her family alive and well. However, the true ending is in the reveal that her neighbours and close friends, the Baba-Levys have