Film Review: Offside (2006)

Directed by Jafar Panahi
Starring Shayesteh Irani, Sima Mobarak-Shahi, Ayda Sadeqi
Written by Jafar Panahi, Shadmehr Rastin 

There was a recent charity screening of Offside at ACMI cinemas, with all proceeds going to Jafar Panahi’s family in the hope that it will aid in someway to his recent unjust arrest, incarceration for six years and banning of making films for twenty years. Convinced that Panahi was conspiring against them, the Iranian government convicted him of colluding in gathering and making propaganda against the regime. One of the very many saddening facts about Panahi’s current situation is that he is a humanitarian filmmaker, not a political one.Inspired when his own daughter was refused entry to a soccer stadium in Iran, Offside is about a group of girls who have been caught inside or trying to enter the stadium hosting the Iran-Bahrain World Cup qualifying match in 2006.

What is so great about Offside is that while it is exposing serious issues within Iran, it is also quite lighthearted at points. Throughout its entirety, the girls that are being held prisoner are actually in control of their situation, and are playing with the soldiers’ minds to their advantage. All of the main actors are simply brilliant, completely natural and their passion seems 100% authentic.

All the actors are non-professionals with Panahi stating the film is constructed like a documentary in which he has inserted fictional characters. He wanted to maintain a high level of authenticity, and felt he wouldn’t have achieved this by hiring professionals. The line between fiction and non-fiction is extremely blurred, as stylistically Offside is very much like a documentary.

There are some very funny moments, however unfortunate that this humour is laced with an almost bitter sadness. The reality is just that – at the centre of this film are very real issues and restrictions that women in Iran have to deal with on a daily basis.  However the young women in Offside aren’t very fazed by their capture of the soldiers, they are much more disappointed that they are missing out on the game!

This is a film for everyone.

★★★★