Becoming Zlatan…

… or how I could not get rid of the football player, whose last name is Ibrahimovic, the man who with two goals last week made sure that we Danes do not have a team at the upcoming European Championship. I watched the match with good friend, true documentarian, Scottish Doug Aubrey and his Danish Film Institute commissioner wife Marie Olesen, a football connaisseur, at their place, we survived the Danish defeat thanks to good whisky and a recognition of the fact that Denmark lost to a great player.

I thought the defeat was out of my mind but at IDFA some days later I met Fredrik Gertten, a football idiot like myself, always AGAINST Messi and FOR Zlatan. With a smile he gave me a postcard invitation to the world premiere of the film he and his brother Magnus have made, “Becoming Zlatan”, Danish editor (traitor!) Jesper Osmund.

My luck was that I could not be in Amsterdam for the screening but it was not possible to get rid of Zlatan… On French television, this evening, here in Paris, there was a long focus on Zlatan, Ibra as they call him here, who in this weekend’s French league, for his PSG club, was the leader, and was praised for his football skills. The two

goals were shown, which brought Zlatan and Sweden to Paris in June. Painful!

Back to the film which I long to watch, here is the description from the IDFA site:

The decisive years of Swedish soccer player Zlatan Ibrahimović, told through rare archive footage in which a young Zlatan speaks openly about his life and challenges. The film closely follows him, from his debut with the Malmö FF team in 1999 through his conflict-ridden years with Ajax Amsterdam, and up to his final breakthrough with Juventus in 2005. Becoming Zlatan is a coming-of-age film that captures the complicated journey of this young, talented and troubled player as he becomes a superstar in the international football world. It’s a story about a young talent living under constant pressure: from teammates in Malmö who think he’s too egoistical and only plays for himself; from the tough managers at Ajax who send him to the bench, where he loses his self-confidence; and from his father, who tells the 18-year-old Zlatan: “You’re nothing. You’re nothing special until you’ve succeeded internationally.” Throughout his journey, Zlatan stays true to himself. When he finally succeeds in Italy, he also becomes much more private. Soccer superstar Zlatan Ibrahimović is an enigma, but in this story from his breakthrough years, he gives us a glimpse at who he really is – if even just for a moment.

Sweden, 2015, 110 mins.

Photo from the premiere: Magnus Gertten, editor (Danish!!!) Jesper Osmund, Fredrik Gertten. Jävla Svenskere!