Opponent

Milad Alami’s second feature centres on an Iranian asylum seeker in Northern Sweden.

Milad Alami, whose second feature this is, grew up in Sweden and is now based in Denmark but is Iranian by birth. It's a background decidedly relevant to his film which rather to my surprise has won awards – not that one can do other than admire the performance of its leading actor Payman Maadi well remembered for his role in Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation (2011). Nor can one be other than sympathetic to the subject-matter since Opponent concerns an Iranian refugee, Iman (that’s Maadi's role), seeking asylum in Sweden for himself and his wife Maryam (Marall Nasiri) along with their two young daughters. But the way in which Alami treats his material left me disappointed in more ways than one.

We learn at the outset that before evading the authorities by leaving Iran Iman had been a wrestler. It seems possible that taking up that sport in Sweden may encourage a more favourable response to his application to remain as may the fact that Maryam is now pregnant again. Consequently, Iman goes into training, gains a strong rapport with his team-mate Thomas (Björn Elgerd) and does well enough to participate in a tournament. As is all too often the case, Iman’s appeal to stay takes months before a decision will be known and in the meantime he and his family get moved about from one temporary accommodation to another.

With this being the situation, Opponent is presented as a film about refugees struggling to escape from a hostile society that opposes them but at the same time wrestling plays such a part in it that it can also be regarded to some extent as a sports drama. However, to those two elements is added a third. It may be a moot point as to whether or not a critic should reveal this since the film does not fully acknowledge it for some time. Nevertheless, from the outset there is such an emphasis on men's bodies both wrestling and showering that most viewers will recognise early on that this is a film about a closeted gay man. Iman seems drawn to this particular sport because of the body contact and it is no surprise when we learn that it was his sexuality and not his political views that got him into trouble back in Iran. He may be a father but there are early indications that he rarely has sex with his wife and that she is herself aware of Iman not being at ease in his domestic life.

There is obviously potential for strong drama and, with able backing from Nasiri in particular, Maadi can make us believe in the tensions within Iman. But, even so, the fact that Iman holds back from opening up to anybody makes this a film which, stretching over virtually two hours, seems to spend a great deal of time to limited effect. Although the film has a stunning opening, Alami’s storytelling both as writer and director leaves much to be desired. Early on a montage of refugees is offered in a way which only serves to remind us that a filmmaker is behind this and much later the film breaks its style to incorporate a fantasy sequence. There is too a self-conscious music score which finds Alami falling back on drums to create tension when the situation already contains enough drama to make this unnecessary. As for the film’s conclusion, it involves a decision so dangerous and foolhardy that it is difficult to believe in it, while in addition it provides an ending to the story that will disappoint some viewers.

But the film’s greatest failing of all lies in being a work that seems content to observe from a distance. Maadi’s feelings about his children should be very relevant yet for the most part they go unexamined. Furthermore, this weakness is much wider than that and is immediately apparent if you compare Opponent with the 2022 film Joyland made by Saim Sadiq and set in Pakistan: that work similarly viewed a married gay man reaching the point when he must make choices. There we were able to see the emotional problem fully as it affected all of the people involved and we shared the drama from the inside. The result was a masterpiece that leaves Opponent for all the ability of its actors looking like a mere shadow of it.

Original title: Motståndaren

MANSEL STIMPSON

Cast: Payman Maadi, Marall Nasiri, Björn Elgerd, Ardalan Esmaili, Nicole Mehrmood, Diana Farzami, Ahmed Abdullami, Arvin Kananian, Magnus Mark, Joonas Saartmo.

Dir Milad Alami, Pro Annika Rogell, Screenplay Milad Alami, Ph Sebastian Winterø, Pro Des Thomas Øyjords Bakken, Ed Olivia Neergaard-Holm, Music Jon Ekstrand and Carl-Johan Sevedag, Costumes Ingjerd Meland.

Tangy/Ape&Bjørn-Met Film Distribution.
119 mins. Sweden/Norway. 2023. UK Rel: 12 April 2024. Cert. 15.