Opponent

Written and directed by Iranian-born filmmaker Milad Alami, Opponent sees grizzled Iranian wrestling champion Iman (Payman Maadi) flee to Sweden with his pregnant wife (Marall Nasiri) and two young daughters where they stay in a refugee camp. He claims that his reason for leaving is because a former colleague had accused him of speaking against the Iranian government. However, his fixated looks at his new teammates in the shower reveal a different reason for why he left Tehran.

From Iman and his family’s struggles living in a refugee camp to his personal battle with his repressed sexuality, and the growing tension between him and his wife, Alami has crafted an enthralling and multifaceted drama that’s made all the better by Maadi’s stunning performance.

In Tehran, Iman and his family had a good life and home. Now, they live in a cramped apartment building where the electricity regularly fails and they’re forced to constantly change rooms to make space for new arrivals, all while they wait months to find out if they’re allowed to stay in the country. The filmmaker (who was a former refugee in Sweden himself) takes an almost documentary-like approach when capturing the harsh realities of living in a refugee camp. There’s a cold bluntness to how he frames everyday life in the camp that makes scenes of tenants being forcibly removed from rooms uncomfortable to watch at times. These points are then contrasted with more fanciful moments, with one of the more bittersweet sequences showing the idealised life Iman dreams of having with his family in Sweden. This combination of styles creates a thematically rich film, which gives viewers an effective insight into the protagonist’s situation.

Alongside its portrayal of refugee life, this feature follows Imam wrestling with his own sexuality and the events which caused him to flee his home. Maadi is unwaveringly excellent in the starring role, his stony expressions acting as the linchpin that ties the script’s collection of ideas together. Not all these ideas tie in as neatly as others, though. For example, a clash with his former wrestling club is over as soon as it starts. Likewise, it’s unclear what a recurring motif of a wolf is meant to represent.

Frequently fascinating and occasionally uneven, there are enough good ideas in Opponent to make Alami’s film worth seeking out.

Andrew Murray

Opponent is released in select cinemas on 12^th April 2024.

Watch the trailer for Opponent here: