One pleasant summer day, a young man casually dives off the docks in Oslo, intending to cool off and have a bit of fun with his friends. We watch this event through the lens of a security camera, a choice that changes his life forever. He hits his head on an object obscured under the water – he can barely swim to the surface. That man is Norwegian #MMA fighter Geir Kåre Cemsoylu Nyland, whose life drastically changed after this freak accident that threatens to leave him paralysed.
A conventional but well-told documentary by Sunniva Sundby and Mari Bakke Riise traces the recovery of Nyland over the course of two years, showing us how his worldview is challenged and ways in which life forces us to walk through the fire. Fighter made its international premiere at CPH:DOX earlier this year and will now serve as the opening film for this year’s edition of Fredrikstad’s Nordic/Docs.
Confronting toxic masculinity
When we first meet Nyland after the accident, he reeks of #toxic masculinity#: he refuses to open up or receive treatment for his #depression, he is scared to talk to his girlfriend about their relationship problems, and his self-confidence is fully dependent upon his ability to be physically dominant. His craving for immediate and total recovery, including attempts to try experimental #stem cell# treatment, emerges from a helplessness rooted in heteropatriarchal ideals. Sundby and Bakke Riise are not afraid to show their subject in all of his rawness, gradually peeling away layers to show how he changes.
Only in the latter half of the film do we better understand how the athlete’s childhood conditions likely influenced his career path through several candid conversations. His father was physically abusive toward Nyland’s mother when the boy was growing up, potentially shaping his desire for violence but removed from an unjust setting, so he posits to his therapist. Although the film could benefit from the introduction of this fascinating subplot earlier in the film, it is candid self-reflection that becomes the transformative mechanism by which Nyland begins to truly recover.
On the upswing
Relying so much on his physical strength rather than mental to drive his life, Nyland jokingly expresses his fear about his girlfriend potentially leaving him, only for the worst to creep up on him before he knows it. The filmmakers offer us tidbits of her perspective as well, creating a fuller image of their subject: Nyland is in no way a perfect man, but we choose to empathise with him, regardless. A delightful scene involving a day on an adaptive mountain biking course – complete with GoPro footage from a camera strapped to the top of Nyland’s helmet – carries new light into his life, showing the adrenaline junkie that he can still take part in activities that bring him joy.
It’s a stretch to call the accident a blessing in disguise, but only with this drastic shift is he able to confront the many harmful perspectives he held toward himself and others. With this, Fighter is a film perfectly fit to address the inherent toxicity socialised into young men around the globe. It makes no secret of Nyland’s (self-)destructive tendencies, suggesting that so many around the world might be doing the same – and only through a major life-changing shakeup may they and the others around them be able to do something about it.
