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What: “The Cup” (A First Line Features film)

Monks mad about soccer?

So mad that they go on a frantic fund-raising spree so they can rent a satellite dish to watch the 1998 World Cup final, frisking monastery students for spare change and pawning prized possessions in order to meditate--and none too silently--over the ballhandling skills of French midfielder Zinedine Zidane?

Such is the premise of “The Cup,” a whimsical tale based on actual events experienced by the film’s director, Khyentse Norbu, a Tibetan Buddhist incarnate lama, during his years growing up in a monastery.

Filmed at Bhutan’s Chokling Monastery, “The Cup” follows the outbreak of World Cup fever among the young monks-in-training, from on-the-sly pickup games with a Coca-Cola can to awe-struck huddles over smuggled-in soccer magazines to a forbidden midnight run to a local pub to watch France-Italy--during which the monks get so caught up in the action, they are bounced from the pub for rowdiness.

They also get grounded, which causes them to miss the semifinals and prompts them to hatch their bold scheme for the final: Promise the abbot they’ll study harder if he permits them to rent a battered satellite dish and an old black-and-white TV for the championship game.

The abbot knows nothing of soccer or the World Cup. He asks his assistant for an explanation.

The assistant sizes it up succinctly, and perfectly:

“Two civilized nations fighting over a ball.”

What happens between then and the final whistle is a madcap ride that ends not only in triumph for France, but illumination for the young monks. Among the life lessons to be gleaned: teamwork, fair play, moderation in all things . . . and, whenever possible, build from the back.