Long moments at the start of the movie are spent showing a bus ride. I think the idea is to set the bar low where thrills are concerned. The photography is in black and white, the aspect ratio is not wide, and for most of the movie everything is in shadows. Very dark, at least as screened at my local theater.
And there are only two major characters. One is a serious athlete out to follow her dream at all costs, even if her family life suffers somewhat. The motif is familiar from any number of biopics, but here it's overlaid by another priority that the athlete defies: She's Iranian and she dares to disobey her government. Her courage is a big element of the movie, so there's a second character, her trainer, who embodies the conflict, wondering what the right thing to do really is.
The sport involved is judo, and the heroine is being asked to take a fall in order not to have to compete against an Israeli. Something like that actually happened, but this isn't a retelling of the actual story. It might have more impact if it were, because as is the movie is incessantly telling us how evil an authoritarian government is from the writer's point of view, rather than letting us figure it out from true-life facts.
A judo match, however you photograph it, is unfortunately not easy to follow. The movie provides a sports commentator on the scene, whose voice-over helps us out somewhat. A mystery I never did solve is the timing of the dreaded match against the Israeli. The Iranians pressure their contestant as if it's coming up right away, but it turns out not to be the next match. How are these things decided? If you never know when your opponent is going to be an Israeli, why did the Iranians send her to the competition in the first place?
Before you can think too much about that, though, the movie sweeps you along-- as relentless as its heroine. And if there are no blue skies or comic relief or rooftop chases, you don't miss them.
