soccer

Football Under Cover

admin — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 23:02:00 +0000

I encountered one major problem with Football Under Cover very early on: it wouldn’t play either on my U.S. regional DVD player or through a few of the many video players on my computer. Eventually, I managed to get it to run in Windows Media Center and sat down to watch.

The earliest scenes were so well done, I started to doubt my own memory. This was supposed to be a documentary on the first international match for the Iranian women’s international football team. (Football, of course, is what people in the U.S. call soccer.) What came up on my monitor, however, could easily be mistaken for a feature film. After watching the first ten or fifteen minutes, I had to find out, so I stopped the DVD and pulled up my favorite search engine. Yes, Football Under Cover is a documentary, an extraordinarily well filmed and edited documentary, but a documentary nonetheless.

As impressive as the filmmakers’ technique was, the story it captures is even more so. A young German woman named Marlene Assmann, a member of an amateur football team from Berlin, hears from an Iranian friend, director Ayat Najafi, that the Iranian women’s team has never played a match despite a great deal of training. The two decide that Assmann’s team, BSV AL-Dersimspor, will go to Iran to play against them. Together, they struggle through the various obstacles posed by the Iranian bureaucracy and the escalation of political tensions to get an official invitation for a match.

As the young Germans prepare for and undertake their trip to the Islamic Republic of Iran, the clash of cultures is examined thoroughly and sensitively. The best stories, however, come from the Iranian side. The simple act of being a female footballer in Iran must be courageous in and of itself, but the women we meet often go one step further. Iranian team member Niloofar Basir admits on camera to practicing in a local park disguised as a boy, questions the dual standards for behavior in the university, and challenges her nation’s record on human rights for women. Female spectators, who are normally forbidden to visit the nation’s sports arenas, respond to a warning from their “moral guardians” by chanting about the denial of their freedoms and their right to attend the stadium. In light of Iranian women’s leading role in the recent opposition protests against the “election” of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, these scenes are even more inspiring.

Even if you have to watch this film on your computer, do it. The Iranian women alone will make you proud to be a woman and a feminist.

Written by: Melinda Barton, October 11th 2009

Kickoff

admin — Tue, 29 May 2007 13:00:00 +0000

By Donna King

Kingfisher

If the thought of being 13 again makes you more nauseous than nostalgic, Kickoff is not the book for you. However, if you feel free to channel your inner tween, read on. Donna King, also known as Jenny Oldfield, is the author of several children’s series novels, including the Horses of Half Moon Ranch. Kickoff introduces the reader to Tyra, the new American Army brat at a British school and a self-professed “soccer fanatic.” Kickoff is a light hearted and engaging read, and King keeps the tempo quick with short scenes, dialogue and plenty of on the field action.

King plays to what she feels are the common denominators for the Tyra’s age group: misunderstandings with parents, confusing interactions with peers and the class bully and participation in sports. Interestingly, King includes the female characters’ struggles with sexism in this mix, though the “sexist comments” are of a mild and rather hokey variety. The girls’ soccer team eventually earns the respect of the boys’ team, and in several scenes the boys even comment to one another on the talent of the girls. King’s presentations of these adolescent male conversations - and, in fact, much of the “slang” dialogue in the book - is optimistic and innocent at best, and eye-rollingly bad at worst. I doubt this will stop younger ones from enjoying the book, though they may think the characters are a little old-fashioned.

King writes positive, encouraging stories for a younger generation, and it is difficult to find fault with her messages of teamwork and tolerance (the heroine eventually befriends even the class bully). Parents will appreciate the King’s lack of focus on the physical appearance and sex appeal of the female characters, and the increased attention to their physical activity and friendship. I can still describe Nancy Drew’s “creamy complexion” to this day, so the experience of being “blind” to the characters’ physical appearance was slightly off-putting, but also liberating. In a contemporary culture of Bratz dolls and constant updates on Paris Hilton, what tween girl couldn’t use a little break?

Written by: Jennifer Wedemeier, May 29th 2007

Goal Dreams

admin — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 13:15:00 +0000

Directed by Maya Sanbar, Jeffrey Saunders

Arab Film Distribution

Originally projected onto the Separation Wall in Palestine/Jerusalem on the eve of the 2006 World Cup, Goal Dreams is a documentary account of the struggles the Palestine National (Football) Team faced to whip up what is so strikingly absent in Palestinian culture: hope. Even if you don’t give two stuffed grape leaves about sports, this edu-docu-drama will capture, break and embolden your heart. The sport itself is not entirely incidental, but the film is about unity amongst people who have been essentially homeless for over fifty years.

The football (that’s soccer, you know) players, all of whom have Palestinian blood, come to Egypt from around the world to play for Palestine. Goal Dreams highlights the thirty incredibly stressful days prior to the “decision match” between Palestine and Uzbekistan, which will determine who goes on to play in the World Cup.

Training camp, if it can be called that, takes place in Egypt because (in case you didn’t know) there’s political tension in Israel and Palestinian Territories. As the film observes, any discussion about Palestine becomes—inevitably—a political discussion. Goal Dreams shows-not-tells what it means to be a Palestinian today, whether in New York, Chile or Gaza. Strangely, the team’s coach is a very difficult to like Austrian named Riedl. Given to fits of brow furrows and eye rolling, Riedl yells a lot, but does little coaching.

The team’s goalkeeper, Ramzi Saleh—a distractingly beautiful Gazan Palestinian—is key in keeping our non-politically-based attention. He is a devoted husband, father, son and brother. We kind of love him for that. However, we can’t help thinking about the palpable absence of women in this story. The women we do see are wearing abayas; some are munaqqabat (women who wear niqab, a full face cover).

Additionally, one player makes a frat boy observation about Swedish girls and Riedl considers “We are looking like girls!” the ultimate insult. (The Palestinian Territories National Women’s Soccer Team might disagree.)

Maya Sanbar, a Brit with Palestinian heritage, and Jeffery Saunders, a Jewish-American, are skilled directors who keep an unflinching tone throughout the film. There is a tastefully indulgent moment at the end when a player opines, “everyone should dream because without dreaming, there is no life.” Nice by itself, but even nicer with an image of David Beckham shouting from a wall ad in the background.

Written by: Michelle C. Schaefer, March 5th 2007