What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that this Iranian dramedy explores the gender inequalities that affect that country's young soccer fans. It moves slowly and comes with subtitles, so younger viewers might be bored. But the story -- girls disguise themselves as boys to enter the stadium, where no women are allowed -- might appeal to teens. When they're discovered, the girls are penned up until a bus arrives to take them to jail. There are discussions of political and legal oppression of women, as well as past demonstrations against the state. Characters (soldiers, a teenage girl and a young boy) smoke cigarettes.
- Families can talk about oppression and inequality. How are women's rights different in Iran than they are in the United States? Where did the restrictions on Iran's women come from? How does the movie show the effects of these restrictions on the younger generation? Is it inevitable that teenagers, no matter where they're from, will resist limits on what they can do and say? How does the movie represent a kind of "on the ground" view of how oppression affects ordinary people? Families can also talk about how sports can build community, even in stressful circumstances. Can you think of other movies that have addressed that idea?