Neil BakerOpponent (Motståndaren) is playing in cinemas now and arrives on digital on May 13.
When the heavyweight Boxer Joe Louis coined the phrase “You can run, but you can’t hide” before a match with the far more agile Billy Conn in 1946, he was, of course, talking about Conn’s dance around the ring and his ability to find Conn wherever he went. But these words held power far beyond the boxing ring; they talked directly to various human behaviours built on avoidance and self-repression. Iranian-born professional wrestler Iman (Payman Maadi) had no choice but to run from his country, despite his sporting success, fleeing to Sweden with his wife Maryam (Marall Nasiri) and their daughters Asal and Sahar in search of peace, safety and security. But Iman also hides a part of himself that has haunted his adult life and ultimately led him to run with his family, one that he can never escape no matter the distance he runs or the number of times he attempts to force it from his mind.
Written and directed by Milad Alami, Opponent (Motståndaren) offers us a cutting exploration of the false hope and bureaucracy of broken asylum systems alongside a detailed character study of self-repression and the anger and confusion it breeds in the individual and everyone they touch. Opening with a quote by Audre Lorde, “My silences had not protected me. Your silence will not protect you”, it’s clear from the outset that there is more to Iman’s story than initially meets the eye. After fleeing Iran due to a fellow teammate’s accusations placing him on a collision course with the Iranian regime, he is now a pizza delivery man awaiting a decision on his and his family’s asylum claim in snowy Sweden. There, his family are moved from room to room and house to house while awaiting a final decision on their case. But it’s not until Iman waits for payment one night after having delivered pizza to a house party that faint glimmers of his real reason for fleeing to Sweden begin to show as two young men standing in the shadows catch his eye. However, it is when a fellow refugee, Abbas (Ardalan Esmaili), suggests Iman’s asylum claim may be improved by wrestling again that these faint glimmers become fiery and uncontrollable sparks as Iman meets teammate Thomas (Björn Elgerd).
Surrounding Iman and his family is the spectre of forced removal, and it haunts every frame of Opponent (Motståndaren) as families and individuals not accustomed to the bitter cold, snow and darkness of a Swedish winter attempt to make the best of their situation while waiting for an answer that, for many, means life or death. Their opponent is the state and their sense of hope as they strive to live again free from fear. This process and the emotions, feelings and pain surrounding a single A4 sheet of paper with accepted or denied printed on its surface are never more starkly observed than in the side story of Abbas – a man who sold a kidney to get to Sweden and isn’t prepared to ever go back.
However, while it may seem that Iman’s most formidable opponent is the Swedish asylum system, it is, and always was, himself. Maadi’s powerful performance offers us a fragmented man who has never found the elusive inner peace he desired due to the social, religious and political restrictions surrounding him. He is a man who loves his wife and his daughters with all his heart yet yearns to experience a life that was never possible at home but is possible in Sweden. Equally striking is Nasiri’s quiet and understated performance as a woman tied to a fractured love that was never complete and a conflicted sense of duty. Ultimately, it is her internal conflict that forces Iman to make a decision that offers us an uneasy conclusion to his journey as he once again walks away from wrestling the opponent inside and accepts the repercussions of that decision.
