American Wrestler: The Wizard

I absolutely love anything about history. This movie is based on a true story. And has a history lesson imbedded with it. I was so excited for Ali, as well as saddened. Very touching, heart warming story. But where is the sequel I saw mentioned? "American wrestler. The Fighter". Can't find anything about it other than a few casting calls for extras. Was it ever made? Hope so.

source: American Wrestler: The Wizard

A beautiful auto biographical film by director Ali Afshar, about the difficulties, prejudices and overcoming of an Iranian immigrant, simple and engaging, for those who enjoy sentimental sports biographies, you can't help but fall in love, adorable...

American Wrestler is yet another underdog sports movie, based on a true story. Ali Jahani escapes from Iran during the Iranian revolution and comes to a hostile USA, as racism against Iranians is rising due to the hostage crisis. Fitting in at a new school is difficult, he tries out for a team to fit in, sticks at wrestling and starts winning, gaining respect and being accepted. So, what makes this one worth watching? The lead performance by George Kosturos is extremely strong, portraying the different emotions Ali is feeling as he's making his way through. Jon Voight and William Fichtner also bring their characters to life and mostly well rounded. The script is also a strength for the most part. While there are some cringeworthy scenes (the school bully is overdone), in general the script keeps moving and is engaging. As noted, however, there are some down sides in some of the side characters, and in how believable some of the events are. The movie is clearly based on a true story, not a true story in itself. It's not a movie that has to be witnessed, but it shouldn't be ignored either.

Nice movie despite many clichees. Easy to watch, enjoyable from beginning to end and lots of emotions.

A true story with awesome actors and script, adrenaline and emotions all over the place, a movie that I definitely recommend! On its own way it is a masterpiece 👍

In 1980 the Iran hostage crisis fueled a diplomatic divide between the United States and Iran that wreaked havoc on millions of innocent people's lives. After the notorious incident, many who had lived in the United States peacefully for a long time began to face hostility simply because of their affiliation to Iran. The region that was once known as Persia used to be a solid American ally. "American Wrestler" begins in 1980 with brutal scenes from the Iran- Iraq war which cost millions of lives on both sides. The United States armed Iraq during this war. Forced into a corner, the Iran revolutionary guard and Ayatollah began to conscript child soldiers into their ranks to fight against Saddam Hussein. During this time, a desperate family smuggles their 17 year old youngest son, a seemingly docile boy named Ali Jahani, out of Iran to an uncle who happens to be residing in a small town in California. The relative is reluctant to take in Jahani as he is facing his own problems with America's hostility towards people of Iranian descent. He loses his business and faces harassment on a regular basis because of his ethnicity. Ali faces similar hostility in high school. After being ostracized and bullied, Ali decides that he needs to join the school's wrestling team to make friends. Ali immediately becomes a rising star in the team. His uncle considers wrestling as an opportunity for revenge for the mistreatment of Iranian people in America. The uncle is convinced that if his nephew Ali can win against Americans in California, then together they can convince people that Iranians deserve to be treated with equality. Ali and his uncle begin to train together intensely and a strong bond eventually forms. During one of the training sessions, Ali asks his uncle why he isn't counting his exercise reps. The uncle casually replies by saying, "… What, are you Lebanese? You want to drive a Mercedes while your children starve? Now you want others to think you are strong when you know you are weak. Count for yourself. Cheat if you don't care to win". Ali takes such lessons to heart. But after an unseen accident disqualifies him for his final wrestling championship match, Ali has to recruit the help of his new American friends to eventually go on to become a champion. The film ends on a positive not and even shows scenes of the real-life Ali wrestling in his prime. "American Wrestler: The Wizard" could have come up with a more cohesive title. But the film is touching in a good way and is worth a watch.

This is an inspirational film and I am glad that I watched it. I will ask my kids to watch it, for several reasons not to go into on imdb - but it is well done for a movie of its type. A good showing from the characters and a "real" story. I liked it.

I absolutely love anything about history. This movie is based on a true story. And has a history lesson imbedded with it. I was so excited for Ali, as well as saddened. Very touching, heart warming story. But where is the sequel I saw mentioned? "American wrestler. The Fighter". Can't find anything about it other than a few casting calls for extras. Was it ever made? Hope so.

I have found this movie by accidental click on IMDb and decided to watch it without waiting. I am wrestler too and I am always very interested how actors will handle wrestler roles and how wrestling feeling will be represented in the movie. I was not expecting a lot from this movie and in the end I was not disappointed. Movie is based on true events and that is definitely a plus, since I can also learn something about events I am not familiar with. There are a lot of serious topics, like descrimination, bullying in school, relationships between generations and of course, wrestling. Competitions and training are shown quite realistic. There was only 1 moment in whole movie, when Ali's uncle shows one of the basic moves and wrestlers look at him like they have learned something new, but I believe It was made just to keep things more simple. In the end It's a well made movie which is not exceptional, but I definitely can recommend it even if you're not a sport lover.