'Tatami': A history-making film raising support for Iranian women - review

Tatami, which premiered at the Jerusalem Film Festival last week and opened in theaters around Israel on July 25, makes history as the first movie co-directed by an Israeli, Guy Nattiv, and an Iranian, Zar Amir Ebrahimi, and co-written by Nattiv and Elham Erfani, also from Iran. 

It’s set in the world of competitive judo and is based on several true stories, but it’s not really a sports film, or, rather, it’s not only a sports film. Judo is used as a prism through which to focus on a number of strong women fighting an oppressive system and Tatami tells a gripping, suspenseful story that could come from today’s headlines, inspired by the “Woman. Life. Freedom” protests in Iran.  

Filmed in black and white, the movie plays like a combination of Raging Bull and the 1928 silent film, The Passion of Joan of Arc. The intense judo matches, which carry much of the weight of the film’s story, were what reminded me of Raging Bull, of course, but there were so many beautiful, wordless closeups of the actresses that it also brought to mind the Joan of Arc film about the young saint brought to trial for heresy, which is known for its frequent closeups of its tormented heroine.

The defiant women of Iran

It seems appropriate to invoke the name of Joan of Arc in a movie that details the courage of women defying the Islamic Republic of Iran, since so many who have done so have paid with their lives, and so many others have suffered torture and imprisonment.

In the Joan of Arc film, star Maria Falconetti had her hair cropped, as did Joan at her trial, and in Tatami, the lead actresses wear hijabs, which frame their faces severely during most of the action.

The movie is being released now to coincide with the Olympic Games, obviously, but it also comes along at a time when many Iranian dissidents are rising up against the government, which makes it especially timely. 

TATAMI TELLS the story of Leila (Arienne Mandi), an up-and-coming Iranian judoka competing for the national women’s judo team in Georgia at the World Championships. A young wife and mother, she is nevertheless completely focused on winning, in a sport in which both Iranians and Israelis excel.

A free spirit, she attends underground parties when she isn’t competing, where people listen and dance to trance music and women take off their hijabs. A generous competitor, she has become friendly with an Israeli judoka, Shani (Lir Katz). 

When they meet before the start of the competition, the two have a real conversation about their lives, with Shani confiding that she broke up with her boyfriend, who wasn’t supportive of her commitment to judo. Leila encourages her to hold out for a man who wants her to flourish, the way her husband does. 

Her coach, Maryam (Ebrahimi, the co-director), watches their exchange warily, and warns Leila not to be too friendly with the Zionist, a warning Leila does not take seriously. When the competition begins, Leila and Shani are both on winning streaks, although they have not yet been pitted against each other.

Worried that they will face each other in the final, Iranian officials contact Maryam, telling her to order Leila to fake an injury and drop out, which is similar to what happened when Iranian judoka Saeid Mollaei was set to face Israeli Sagi Muki at the World Judo Championships semi-final in 2019. 

Leila rebels, and we see how the regime pressures Maryam for not being able to control Leila, threatening Maryam’s livelihood, since they know she supports her ailing mother. Leila also fears for her family’s safety. 

AS THE pressure builds, clearly something, or rather, someone, has got to give. Much of the movie is about how athletes get themselves psychologically ready to compete, and we see in several matches, in dramatic detail, how much depends on competitors being “on,” and how being distracted, or in this case, threatened, can rob them of their focus.

Leila has to fight her opponents, her coach, her fears, and her country’s officials, which makes for a tense, fast-paced drama, in which our empathy for her grows as the film progresses. Maryam is also fighting on different fronts, and as we get to know her better, the coach who seems at first to be a stooge for the regime turns out to have more in common with Leila than it seems at first. 

The movie plays like a psychological thriller, but for a story like this to work, the athletic scenes have to be convincing, and they are. For those who don’t know much about judo, commentary provided by sports broadcasters helps the audience understand the nuances of each match. The cinematography captures each moment meticulously, and the stark black and white fills each bout with beautiful images. 

The movie is a showcase for its lead actresses and they each give brilliant performances. Mandi, an American-Iranian actress, makes us believe that Leila is so ambitious that she wouldn’t immediately back down to save her family when threatened, which is no small feat. 

Amir Ebrahimi is one of the world’s leading actresses. She won the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival for Holy Spider in 2022, and received the Best Actress Award for Tatami at the Tokyo International Film Festival in 2023, where the film also won the Special Jury Prize. 

Because of her acting, in the end, you come to identify with Maryam, although she isn’t as strong as Leila. In a movie with clear good guys and villains, Maryam is the most complex character, hovering between the two. 

The movie is an achievement for both directors. This is Ebrahimi’s directorial debut and since most of the movie is in Farsi, she clearly made a huge contribution to their collaboration. Nattiv has far more experience behind the camera, and directed last year’s Golda, starring Helen Mirren, as well as the Oscar-winning short, Skin, and a number of other award-winning movies, both in Israel and the US, among them a full-length version of Skin starring Jamie Bell, The Flood, and Strangers. 

While some Iranian directors continue to work in their home country – facing all kinds of restrictions and threats – or from abroad, there hasn’t yet been a movie this rousing to rally support for Iranian women against the regime’s persecution. This moving film will likely reach a wide audience, and entertain viewers while it spotlights the persecution that Iranian women face. 

Tatami was produced by Keshet Studios, Keshet International's production company based in Los Angeles, and New Native Pictures in collaboration with White Lodge Productions and WestEnd Films.