The Iranian embassy in Abu Dhabi has slammed the Oscar-nominated animation film Persepolis which releases in the UAE on Thursday.
The movie from France is a depiction of Iranian author Marjane Satrapi's graphic novel which was released in 2003. The novel is on the list of books banned in the UAE.
The embassy however said that it will not lodge an official protest against the release of the film here.
The National Media Council's Censorship Board reviewed the movie on Tuesday and announced that it will release it without any cuts. The movie has received a PG rating.
"In this movie we see the Iranian woman as a woman who is not free. I know that the Iranian society is not an angelic one but the Iranian woman is not as represented in the film," said Dr Mohammad Hatimi, Cultural Attaché, Iranian Embassy, Abu Dhabi.
He said the film paints Iran in an unrealistic way. "We are against the principles that this film stands on. We believe real cinema is free cinema, but this film shines a bad light on Iranian society."
Satrapi tells the story of a young girl (based on her life), a daughter of left-wing revolutionary parents growing up in Iran during the Islamic revolution.
The movie spans 13 years of Satrapi's life, from childhood and adolescence to early adulthood and speaks of her journey while living in Iran and Austria, her return and the injustices she witnessed.
The movie received wide acclaim and was nominated for an Oscar at the recent academy awards.
