I am Zlatan: Engaging portrait of a true football superstar

There are many great footballers but only a handful — Eric Cantona? Maradona? George Best? — have a personality to match the impact they can make at the back of the net. The man has 34 trophies, 11 nominations for the Ballon d’Or, a hit record, and now two hit movies. In fact, director Jens Sjögren’s enjoyable dramatisation of Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s youth outperformed The Batman in the footballer’s native Sweden.

Ibrahimovic, as any number of unfortunate defenders can attest, is a force to be reckoned with. The Swedish son of a Muslim Bosniak father and a Catholic Croat mother, he has enjoyed a colourful and controversial career at Ajax, Juventus, Inter Milan, Barcelona, AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United. Aged 40, he recently provided the assist that secured AC Milan the domestic title, following an anterior cruciate ligament injury that requires him to “empty” his left knee every week. (Last week, he shared footage of the gruesome procedure on social media for those seeking a good old flinch.)

I Am Zlatan chronicles a tough childhood. Granit Rushiti has remarkable screen presence and an intensity to match the person he is portraying. Playing Ibrahimovic from his teenage years onwards, he keeps his chin up, despite an impoverished upbringing, characterised by petty theft, classroom fidgeting and undisciplined spells on the pitch.

Even as a preteen, Zlatan, played by Dominic Andersson Bajraktati, has something of the swagger that defines his later career. “Show me what you got, you cocky little f**ker,” says a reluctant coach.

There’s a genuine sense of how precarious his talent is — that another wrong turn, another indifferent performance, could spell the end.

Sjögren moves between different time periods — kudos to the production team and their careful period details — to create a drama that will engage even the football agnostic.