One of the scenes from I Am Zlatan film. PHOTO/COURTESY/IMDB.COM.
On October 28, the annual Euro Film Festival will be starting at the National Theatre. The festival that over the years has over the years played a soft power role but at the same time connected the European Union with the audience usually features films from members of the European Union and at times a few African films, especially those co-produced by member country producers.
There are many times they have included films such as Who Killed Captain Alex by Isaac Nabwana of Wakaliwood and a slew of short films but the main menu is usually made of Eurocentric films.
This week, such films will be on exhibition at the National Theatre but one of the most exciting films to be showcased is one of Swedish footballer, Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Aptly titled I Am Zlatan, the film is a loose adaptation of the man’s book with the same name. Directed by Jens Sjogren, the film follows the life of Zlatan Ibrahimovic from a cocky underprivileged child saved from a life of crime by football.
For many of such films, there are always many chances the film will sink into a sport cliche where big decisions and action points or reflection take place on the sports grounds, this particular film mainly takes place off the sports grounds.
The 11-year-old Zlatan, portrayed by Dominic Andersson Bajraktati, is irritable on the pitch and disruptive at school. It quickly becomes evident that all of this activity is a child’s way of communicating feelings of inadequacy, loneliness, and hunger. With their fathers watching from the sidelines, he is playing football with middle-class lads dressed in the appropriate football boots. When Zlatan was little, his parents got divorced.
His mother is not emotionally available while his father is a heavy drinker, both characters are well thought out and clinically written.
Zlatan is a larger-than-life footballer who at best has been criticised for running his mouth most of the time, his belief in his ability is unmatched. He believes he is better than Messi and Ronaldo combined, that is even when at times, there is little to talk about his accomplishments.
But the film manages to shed light on why he is the man he is, how he has channelled his anger towards football and how this has made him indispensable.
This is the second film about Zlatan’s life, the first one was a 2015 documentary, Becoming Zlatan directed brothers Fredrik and Magnus Gertten and follows Ibrahimovi? through his formative years with football clubs Malmö FF and AFC Ajax all the way to his breakthrough with Juventus FC in 2005.
Besides the film on Zlatan, the festival will feature other films such as Sonny Boy from Netherlands, Transit from Germany and Lola from Ireland among others.
The film festival is a free event.
