(2007, 93 min) A man searches frantically outside Azadi Stadium in Tehran. Iran is playing to qualify for the 2005 World Cup, and his granddaughter is trying to sneak in. Since she is Iranian, she will need to disguise herself as a male: Iranian women are not allowed to attend sporting events. She is found out and placed in a holding pen with other women who made the same attempt. They spend the game able to hear every roar and cheer, just yards from a view of the action.
As they wait in confinement to be sent to jail, they talk about the Gender Apartheid Law and Islamic texts, about foreign women allowed access to the stadium they cannot legally enter, about Iranian spectators killed during matches, about the differences between city living and country living, and, of course, about soccer. The soldiers, not much older than the girls they guard, spout the official line regarding their attempts to enter the stadium; but their declarations of policy are often rote and ambivalent. It becomes evident that not all Iranians support the incarceration or the laws which dictate it.
Director Jafar Panahi successfully executes a comedic treatment of a serious subject. Shooting during the actual event with non-professionals lends a documentary feel to the film; Panahi's reputation in Iran (his films are banned there) added production complications and a wary energy to mirror that of the corralled young women. He portrays an environment simultaneously so alien in its societal mores and so familiar in its human element. Offside doesn't require a knowledge of soccer to be appreciated.
Offside could be double-billed with the slighter but heartfelt Gracie, the story of a Jersey girl's desire to play competitive soccer in 1978.
© TLA Entertainment Group
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