Civil Disobedience and Other Essays

Murad is a young man from a Mumbai slum, driven by a father who wants him to take a steady job and a world that expects him to stay in his place. He starts writing rhymes, meets a street rapper and slowly finds a voice. Inspired by the real Mumbai hip-hop scene, in particular the rappers Naezy and Divine, Akhtar's film is a Bollywood-sized musical drama about class, ambition and what you do with a mic.

Why it’s here: It's a film about a kid who finds out his own life is material. What's punk is that the music comes from the gully, not from a studio, and the film is full of the real language of a neighborhood that gets ignored. What's pedagogical is how clearly it shows class as a map of who gets to be heard, and how making something is a way to be counted. Note: long, musical, standard Bollywood structure and some melodrama; some domestic conflict and a violent scene. Hindi and Urdu with subtitles. Good global-voice pick for a family with older kids, and an India film in a catalog that has books on it but few films. Close relatives: The White Tiger and Salaam Bombay! (suggested 10-22).

Tehran, 2005, on the day Iran plays Bahrain to qualify for the World Cup. Women are not allowed into the stadium, so a group of girls disguise themselves as boys to get in, and are caught and penned up on a roof by bored young soldiers. They argue, joke and listen to the match on the radio. Panahi shot it during the real game, with non-professional actors, and was banned from filming in Iran. Funny, sharp and warm toward the guards, too.

Why it’s here: It's a film about a rule that doesn't survive a conversation. What's punk is how its girls refuse to be embarrassed and its guards slowly stop believing in the rule. What's pedagogical is how it shows a state's absurdity through the people who have to enforce it. A close relative of It Was Just an Accident (in the catalog) and Taxi (suggested 10-27), and ties to the Iran bundle. Note: Persian with subtitles; one scene of a guard's crude remark. Panahi has been imprisoned over his work, and the film was banned in Iran.