With a clothing line in the shops, a transfer to Manchester United in the air, and his retirement from the international stage confirmed, now is a pretty good time to release a documentary about Zlatan Ibrahimović, that contemporary colossus of the modern game. And – rather to Ibrahimovic’s credit, it has to be said – this film, made by Swedish brothers Fredrik and Magnus Gertten, is a long way from the over-produced hagiography you might expect.
Becoming Zlatan, as its title indicates, focusses on Ibrahimović’s formative years as a footballer, cutting backwards and forwards between his first steps as a professional with Malmö in Sweden, and his first big club, Ajax in Holland. Though it largely signs up for the general view of Ibrahimović as being a moody genius, head and shoulders above everyone around him, it doesn’t shy away from showing his irritability and superciliousness (already evident as a gawky, spike-haired teen), his propensity for clashing with team-mates as well as the opposition, and the dislike he regularly inspired in the crowd.
Ibrahimović appears solely in old video footage – of which there is a remarkable amount – and perspective is provided by a string of former collaborators and adversaries, including Egyptian striker Mido, who came off worst after the pair argued at Ajax. Ibrahimović never gives much away, but this film makes a virtue of it, building an insightful character portrait slowly and incrementally, like a mosaic.
