Review of Football Under Cover (2008) by Tom M — 05 Apr 2009

Saw this at the Wis Film Festival, and heard the director (Marlene's brother) speak afterwards. It was a very good movie that showed a lot of similarities between Iranian girls and German grils--they just want to play football, want to be free to do what they choose, and may not like how they live but live it that way and push the boundaries. It follows Marlene's dream of playing the Iranian womens team in Iran. The red tape she had to go thru is unimagineable, but they did get there. THey played, in front of a surprisingly boisterous crowd of only women, of course.

Showing the German girls sneaking cigarettes, and wondering how they'd play all warrpped up in clothing was funny. Watching the Iranian girl climb the fence and not worried about her trousers but something else was hilarious. The ending scene where one girl was playing alone, and then as the mens team gathered to start a practice was ignored until she was forced off the field brought it back to reality--that Iran and Germany are still 2 different countries and the women live under 2 very different sets of rules.

They tried getting a rematch in Germany, but at the last minute Iranian officials cancelled it.