Offside

Talk about guerrilla filmmaking -- Jafar Pahani was denied permission to film at Iran’s win over Bahrain in the 2006 World Cup qualifier, but managed to shoot around the edges and produced a film that was promptly banned by the mullahs. With Bush so busy demonizing Iran, it is good to be reminded that while the theocracy is retrograde, the nation itself is ancient and modern, proud and diverse. A group of girls who play soccer themselves, though forbidden like all women from attending games at the stadium, figure out various ways to infiltrate, but are rounded up and kept in a pen outside, watched over by young soldiers just as eager to be watching the game, and just as frustrated by their ridiculous assignment. The droll absurdity of the situation is drawn out in a charming and metaphoric way, and while the girls (and we) don’t get to see a minute of the game, they do get to join in the street celebrations of national victory in the end. Though scripted and rehearsed in advance, the film is mostly shot in the actual times and places, another example of the inventiveness of what might be called Iranian neorealism, one of the most interesting movements in world cinema today. (2007, dvd, n.) *7* (MC-85.)