The Wrestler

Bilal, struggling to provide for his wife, his two children and his elderly father, has one last hope: to go to Libya as a labourer. But his turn never comes. So he decides to try his luck at wrestling, his father’s trade, and begins preparing for the oil wrestling at Kirkpinar. In the course of his training he sees that the calling is being corrupted and that cheating has entered it, and still he does not give up hope. Meanwhile his brother, back with his family after twelve years in Germany, is finding it hard to settle again. The film gives wrestling not as a sport but as a way of making a living. The account builds the village and the wrestling ground on location. Tarik Akan and Erol Gunaydin appear in Zeki Okten’s ninety eight minute Turkish film, completed in 1984.