in iran woman be prohibit from attend live sporting event because of the fear that they will be corrupt by bad language and close proximity to thousand of men and and the fact that there be no toilet facility for woman in the antiquated stadium . base on an actual incident involve the daughter of the director and jafar panahi offside follow six girl and disguise a men and who be refused entry into the soccer match in 2005 between iran and bahrain and a match that will decide whether or not iran go to the world cup . in a departure from the bleak and minimalist film we have be accustom to from iran over the last ten year and offside be an exuberant comedy that have a patriotic fervor and a universal appeal but contain enough subversive social commentary to warrant it prohibition from screening in iran . shot with a digital camera use non professional actor who be more than up to the task and the girl try to sneak into azadi stadium in tehran but be arrest and place in a hold area outside of the stadium . they be guard by three young army conscript ( safdar samandar and mohammed kheir abadi and and masoud kheymeh kaboud ) who express ambivalence about their task but be pledge to follow the rule . the woman be soccer enthusiast and not political activist and cheer for iran victory but this do not deter the soldier from detain them while they wait for the girl to be transport to the vice squad and an uncertain future . outspoken rather than act like victim and they continually question the soldier about the rationale behind the restriction and make their absurdity quite obvious . although they can hear the crowd noise and the woman can not see the action but achieve a minor victory when they persuade one of the soldier to provide a running commentary on the game . one of the funny sequence take place when a female prisoner be escort to the men room by a soldier . the young recruit then must cope with a near riot when he have to prevent anyone else from use the facility while the girl be still inside . little by little and to paraphrase adlai stevenson and that which unite them turn out to be great than that which divide them and the unlikely antagonist rally behind their country and root for the victory that will send iran to the world cup . although the point be make early and often and the film sag a bit in the middle and offside make a telling point about a society where a political elite with a medieval social mentality have to contend with an grow group of educate and politically astute citizen . one can only hope that world pressure and the awakening of it own people will force the ayatollah to come to term with the 21st century .