NR | 1h 47min | Drama, Sports | Sept. 1, 2023
There is no Title IX equivalent for female athletes in Iran. Perversely, Nazar Abadi (Mahtab Keramati), the Islamist director of the Iranian Sports Ministry’s women’s division is openly hostile to women’s rights, and she has little interest in sports. She is only willing to invest in athletes that stand a chance of medaling in the Olympic Games.
As a swimmer, Elham Asghari (Taraneh Alidoosti) can expect antagonism rather than support from Abadi, even though she is willing to wear full length Islamic garb while competing in the water. Despite the Ministry’s religious-based opposition, Asghari feels compelled to swim in a competitive context. in Sahar Mosayebi’s “Orca.”
Iranian Swim Gear
The film expresses a strong point of view that is evident from the start, when Abadi unveils the new, officially approved uniforms for Iranian women athletes. There have probably been more revealing outfits worn on polar expeditions. From there, the film takes a grim turn, when Asghari’s abusive husband nearly beats her to death.Waking from her coma, Asghari learns her father has already secured her divorce, but she has nothing to show for her years of marriage to the cruel Ahmad. Her parents, Saeed and Azar (Masoud Karamati and Armik Gharibian) are both so wracked with guilt that she finds their presence oppressive. Several times she tries to commit suicide by drowning, but she is such an instinctively strong swimmer, she keeps overcoming the crashing surf, so she decides to embrace the sea as an open-water swimmer.
Saeed encourages her swimming ambitions, hoping it will give her a reason to live. Yet, despite his own history on the national wrestling team, Abadi and the Ministry are openly dismissive of Asghari, because of her choice of sport. Undeterred, Asghari goes off the grid, training with the help of several brave locals she meets on Iran’s Caspian coast.
Since there are no officially sanctioned events for her, Asghari will try to set a world record for open-water endurance swimming, but the process will be tricky, since the Guinness organization cannot legally operate in Iran. With fitting irony, she will even attempt to break the record for handcuffed swims. Asghari must also contend with gangs of regime-affiliated thugs, who try to disrupt her swims, at great peril to herself and her designated observers.
Ms. Mosayebi really pulls out a lot of manipulative tricks for the climax, but it is easy to forgive her, considering how much Asghari endures. “Orca” also avoids a lot of clichés common to American sports films. There will be no romance for Asghari, because she simply cannot afford it, given her precarious position.
Social Significance
In some ways, “Orca” is still a crowd-pleasing sports film, but the extreme challenges and hostile system Asghari faces gives it greater social significance. For starters, viewers can only imagine how much further she could go if she did not have to swim covered from head to toe in heavy black, concealing fabric.Ms. Alidoosti (who starred in Asghar Farhadi’s Oscar-winning “The Salesman” and Saeed Roustayi’s “Leila’s Brothers,” which has been banned in Iran) is outstanding as Asghari. It is an unusually bold and realistic performance that never puts the swimmer on a pedestal, either for her virtue or her victimhood.
Mr. Karamati (with an “a”) is absolutely heartbreaking as her remorseful father, while Ms. Keramati (who also co-produced) might just be the movie villain of the year, for her portrayal of the nasty, unyielding Islamist zealot.
Clearly, a great deal of anger and passion went into “Orca,” but it is still a keenly sensitive, well-produced film, which makes it another great example of the eloquence of Iranian cinema. Very highly recommended.
