Fight of Fate

Umar Kemiläinen is a 26-year-old Finnish man dreaming of world championship in boxing. He is also a devout Muslim. Mohamed El Aboudi’s film follows the life of Umar, former Veli-Matti, for whom adversities are passed by God for testing one’s patience. The believer’s mind is not shaken by the interruption of the athlete’s professional career due to a mystical disease, or by divorce: “Allah decides who is to win and who is to lose.”

The derelict Nordic society wakes crushing anguish and shame in the young Muslim. He does not want drunks feasting on pork as his neighbours, but people of his own kind. The boxer’s inner world, surrounded by Finnishness and the machoness of sport, is dominated by faith and a longing for distant lands. Under Dubai’s sun, a triumphant and relieved smile spreads across Umar’s face. The story pictures touchingly how some of us feel as they have been born in the wrong country.

Sanni Huvinen | Translation by Sophy Bergenheim