Offside (2006)

Though it doesn't pack the punch of his last film, Crimson Gold, Jafar Panahi's Offside is a slyly constructed rebuke to misogynistic practices in his native Iran. Filmed in part during an actual World Cup qualifying match, Offside brings documentary realism to the story of girls disguising themselves as boys to gain entry. Much of the film takes place in a holding pen just a few feet away from a view of the soccer match. There, the rebellious young women bicker with their captors, representatives of Iran's compulsory civilian military. Panahi's main point is the absurdity of the ban on women at soccer matches, but the film works as an allegory for any unjust law that cannot break the spirit of a people. Iran's sporting success is a point of national pride, one that's both at odds with institutionalized injustice but also transcendent. The bonding of the women to each other and, surprisingly, to their male oppressors gives hope for conflict resolutions of all kinds.