Opponent (2023)

Opponent (2023). 1h 59m

“Iman is a wrestler who was once on the Iranian national team. When the police start looking for him, he flees with his family – wife Maryam and their two daughters. They end up living in one room in a run-down refugee shelter in Sweden, u0026quot;near the Finland borderu0026quot;, sometimes delivering pizzas on snowmobile for money. The process drags on with statements and appeals, while the daughters miss their friends and Maryam misses being a pianist and piano teacher.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eHis initial story was that a jealous teammate falsely accused him of being an anti-regime protestor. Then he tries to leverage the fact that his wife is pregnant. Hearing that elite athletes may get special dispensation, he joins a wrestling club, against his wifeu0026#39;s wishes There he meets Swedish wrestler Thomas, who befriends him, and tries to get him to socialize with the team. Qualifying for international training camps, he meets his Iranian club, and gets into a fight with one of them.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eEventually, he confesses to the asylum officers that he is gay, has had an affair with a fellow wrestler, and that was what got him into trouble. This is the 1st he has acknowledged this to his wife. But his family just wants to u0026quot;go homeu0026quot;, regardless of the dangers that may befall them – including being pressured to get him to return.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThere is a sub-plot about Abbas, a fellow asylum claimant who is repeatedly drafted to act as translator.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI like the depiction of the dilemmas posed to both sides of the asylum claimants – they may be genuinely in danger, but may not be able to prove it. There is a certain amount of chemistry between Thomas and Iman, though that does not help his cause.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhile the story happens over several months, the landscape seems to be permanent winter. To alleviate the blandness, there are some scenes that are fantasy or memories. The most obvious fantasy is them living in a good house and getting their acceptance letter, which backtracks tofantasies of their actually getting their own apartment, and a scene of Maryam playing the piano at a community gathering as a memory.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe languages are Swedish and Persian, with a few English words thrown in. As in these subtitled films, I would have liked to know what language was being spoken, following the developing linguistic skills of the refugees.”