As I write this, director Jafar Panahi has once again been imprisoned. His sad fate contrasts sharply with the tone of this, one of his better known films that is about the oppression of women in Iran but is lighthearted and patriotic. This is about how the country stops women from attending football matches but this doesn’t deter a determined group of female fans. It was apparently filmed in a stadium during an actual qualifying match which gives this an electrifying atmosphere and incredible sense of authenticity. It’s fiction of course because no way would real soldiers and police officers be as empathetic and as easily bullied as the ones shown here as the director’s own fate demonstrates. But it sure does make for a fun movie.
In 2006, Iran has a chance of entering the World Cup if it wins a qualifying match against Bahrain. Fans flock to the stadium to watch the match but they are all men as women are barred. A small group of girls defy the ban and try to disguise themselves as boys to get in, dressing in long-sleeved shirts and wearing caps to cover their hair. One particular girl is so amateurish at it that she is quickly recognized on a bus by other fans. She buys a ticket from a tout at a massively inflated price but is quickly caught by soldiers manning the gate. She is then brought to a pen holding a few other girls who have been also been caught. They are unable to view the match from the pen but they beg and annoy the young soldiers guarding them until one provides a running commentary on what is happening. Meanwhile from the conversations among the soldiers, we learn that they are on their mandatory national service and are just trying to get through it without getting in trouble. They aren’t actually hostile to the girls but are anxious to avoid being punished by their commanding officer.
We’ve watched a fair few films about the oppression of women in Middle Eastern countries so far and they are invariably dark and depressing stories. This one starts out a bit scary at first as a father sets out to look for his daughter fearing what will happen to her if someone else catches her disguised as a boy. Yet it soon reveals itself to be a comedy as the girls berate the barely out of boyhood soldiers into doing small favors for them and challenge them about just why girls aren’t allowed to watch football. The hapless boys of course have no good answer with the offered justification that the pure and innocent girls in the stadium would be exposed to the rude swearing of the men itself being a joke. There’s a fair bit of female empowerment here too as the girls are shown to be smart, courageous and knowledgeable fans of football. They are moral and upstanding citizens of Iran too as a girl proves when she voluntarily returns after escaping the pen for a while. The only thing they want is a chance to watch the game just like the boys and that’s such a reasonable thing to ask for. The film is entertaining, funny and it’s impossible not to get caught up in the electric atmosphere of the moment even if you are not football fans or not particularly disposed to like Iran.
It’s brilliant of Panahi to make a film like this, especially when it is wrapped up in the flag of nationalism to deflect any possible accusation that this is anti-Iran. Yet we shouldn’t blind ourselves to the fact that this is a fantasy as punishment against activists in favor of women’s rights in Iran include lengthy prison sentences and lashes. The film even unrealistically skips over the risks of the girls being assaulted or molested by the large crowds of men because it prefers to portray men and women being united in opposing these silly rules. Similarly the spontaneous outpouring of celebratory joy on the streets of Tehran is a powerful thing but I’m always conscious of the flipside of such unbridled passions as football hooliganism is a real and dangerous phenomenon. Indeed the film itself refers to a real tragedy in which six were killed and many more injured. It doesn’t escape me that the chants supporting the Iranian team include lines insulting the Bahraini one and it always makes me uncomfortable to unite an in-group by vilifying an out-group.
Perhaps this is taking too seriously a film that is meant to be a comedy and it does serve a useful social purpose in reminding us us that the rules regulating women are so often absurd and not meant for their good at all. It is undeniably very entertaining and funny and that is good enough reason to watch it.