“Offside” is a soccer film. And one could say it’s a women’s soccer film. But don’t hit the pitch thinking this 90-minute Iranian feature -- directed and co-written by Jafar Panahi ("The White Balloon," "Border Cafe") -- is another “Bend it Like Beckham.”
The film -- one of at least three made in 2006 with the title “Offside” -- barely has any football in it at all. Filmed in large part during Iran’s World Cup 2005 qualifier against Bahrain, “Offside” is the story of women forced to disguise themselves as men -- with varying degrees of success -- to slip past stadium security and see the match.
In Iran, women are banned from sports stadia for fear that they’ll hear men swear or be forced to come into some kind of physical contact with men they don’t know. The film opens with a man searching for his daughter. He has heard she plans to sneak into the match and he wants to find her before her brothers do, because he fears his sons will beat her, perhaps to death.
Then we see actress Sima Mobarak-Shahi, a first-timer whose gender is obvious to everyone who sees her. When she’s caught upon trying to gain entry, she’s led to a corral where other captured women are being held until they can be transported to the police vice squad headquarters.
Most of the women are there because they are passionate about the game, but at least one has another compelling reason to attend the match. But whatever has impelled them to risk arrest, disgrace and worse, it’s baffling to the provincial soldiers – young men doing their compulsory military service – why women in Tehran want to go to a football match.
The women are (mostly) strong spirited and willful and they’re not content to be corralled without asking their guards why they shouldn’t be allowed to watch the game. It is these discussions that are the most fascinating and enlightening part of the film.
The actors in the film don’t feel like pros and much of the film was improvised around the actual outcome of the match. So, “Offside,” which was apparently banned in Iran, has a realist style and a dramatic, almost documentary feel, even though it’s not a documentary.
What’s also notable is that, despite the fact that the differences between Iran and the West are much discussed, watching the soccer-mad crowds descend on the stadium, chanting and showing their support for the home squad, it’s hard to see that many differences (other than the film’s glaring theme, of course) and the folks milling about around the stadium before the game could be Britons outside Wembley or Americans outside Lambeau Field.
“Offside” is in Persian with English subtitles and is rated PG.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
