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The Vancouver International Film Festival Hana |
Offside
Shot with a digital camera using non-professional actors who are more than up to the task, the girls try to sneak into Azadi Stadium in Tehran but are arrested and placed in a holding area outside of the stadium. They are guarded by three young army conscripts (Safdar Samandar, Mohammed Kheir-abadi, and Masoud Kheymeh-kaboud) who express ambivalence about their task but are pledged to follow the rules. The women are soccer enthusiasts, not political activists and cheer for Iran's victory but this does not deter the soldiers from detaining them while they wait for the girls to be transported to the Vice Squad and an uncertain future. Outspoken rather than acting like victims, they continually question the soldiers about the rationale behind the restrictions, making their absurdity quite obvious. Although they can hear the crowd noise, the women cannot see the action but achieve a minor victory when they persuade one of the soldiers to provide a running commentary on the game. One of the funniest sequences takes place when a female "prisoner" is escorted to the men's room by a soldier. The young recruit then must cope with a near riot when he has to prevent anyone else from using the facilities while the girl is still inside. Little by little, to paraphrase Adlai Stevenson,
that which unites them turns out to be greater than that which
divides them and the unlikely antagonists rally behind their
country and root for the victory that will send Iran to the
World Cup. Although the point is made early and often and
the film sags a bit in the middle, Offside makes
a telling point about a society where a political elite with
a medieval social mentality has to contend with an growing
group of educated and politically astute citizens. One can
only hope that world pressure and the awakening of its own
people will force the Ayatollahs to come to terms with the
21st century.
©2006 Howard Schumann |
In
Iran women are prohibited from attending live sporting events
because of the fear that they will be "corrupted"
by bad language, close proximity to thousands of men, and
the fact that there are no toilet facilities for women in
the antiquated stadiums. Based on an actual incident involving
the daughter of the director, Jafar Panahi's Offside
follows six girls, disguised as men, who are refused entry
into the soccer match in 2005 between Iran and Bahrain, a
match that will decide whether or not Iran goes to the World
Cup. In a departure from the bleak, minimalist films we have
been accustomed to from Iran over the last ten years, Offside
is an exuberant comedy that has a patriotic fervor and a universal
appeal but contains enough subversive social commentary to
warrant its prohibition from screenings in Iran.