NebraskaAddick
29 May 2007, 08:16 PM
I watched an Iranian film the other night, called "Offside" and directed by Jafar Panahi, who is one that likes to take up women's issues, and he made a brilliant little gem about a half-dozen girls who are trying all their might to sneak into a World Cup qualifier in Tehran (back in 2005).
Women in Iran are not allowed to go to games. It's "for their protection" because men will yell obscenities during games, which you know happens at stadiums, but women would be "harmed" if they heard all that stuff, you see, plus you never know what a large group of men might do to defenseless women, and yada yada.
But these girls are died-in-the-wool soccer fans, and they know as much or more about the game as any men do, and as a soccer fan myself, I appreciate this film so much, in spite of having to read subtitles, because the film is such a moving tribute to the beautiful game, and its power to unite people, as well as to the passion this director has for the cause of women's rights.
What makes it even more special is how real a lot of it is. This film was made in large part on location, you see the real game taking place, and the real celebration afterwards, which was raucous as all get out, with the acted scenes fused in so well that you cannot tell fact from fiction. And so then you gotta wonder, how did they make this film? How did they get away with it?
I feel so privileged to having seen this slice of life of a part of the world I know so little about, and I'm sure this film is only on one week's run, in its limited nationwide release, as many Americans don't like these kinds of films, so you have to see it quick before it goes. There were only two other people in the theater with me.
Women in Iran are not allowed to go to games. It's "for their protection" because men will yell obscenities during games, which you know happens at stadiums, but women would be "harmed" if they heard all that stuff, you see, plus you never know what a large group of men might do to defenseless women, and yada yada.
But these girls are died-in-the-wool soccer fans, and they know as much or more about the game as any men do, and as a soccer fan myself, I appreciate this film so much, in spite of having to read subtitles, because the film is such a moving tribute to the beautiful game, and its power to unite people, as well as to the passion this director has for the cause of women's rights.
What makes it even more special is how real a lot of it is. This film was made in large part on location, you see the real game taking place, and the real celebration afterwards, which was raucous as all get out, with the acted scenes fused in so well that you cannot tell fact from fiction. And so then you gotta wonder, how did they make this film? How did they get away with it?
I feel so privileged to having seen this slice of life of a part of the world I know so little about, and I'm sure this film is only on one week's run, in its limited nationwide release, as many Americans don't like these kinds of films, so you have to see it quick before it goes. There were only two other people in the theater with me.