A film titled Borg Vs. McEnroe is bound to invite comparisons to movies in which titans clashed, and the world brimmed over. Mercifully this internationally co-produced film doesn’t follow the typical dramatic gambit of Ron Howard’s Rush (2013) in which James Hunt and Niki Lauda feuded during the 1976 Formula One motor-racing season. The spirit of the film is closer to Miloš Forman’s 1984 masterpiece Amadeus, a film interestingly very far from the idea of sports.
Amadeus on paper was a fictionalised biography of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, but Forman unfolded the musical genius through the prism of a rival. The end result is a story of music that prospered in enmity, and brought us closer to Mozart’s opponent Antonio Salieri. Borg Vs. McEnroe takes the similar route, showing us two geniuses of tennis, Björn Borg (Sverrir Gudnason) and John McEnroe (Shia LaBeouf) by wisely sidestepping stagey overtures of conflict for an intrinsic interest in its characters.
They are shown as men of polar opposite natures – if Borg remains a man of ice-cold precision, McEnroe is prone to outbursts, expletives, and disreputable impatience. As a talk show host says, “You and Borg are as different as two people can possibly be.”
But are they really that different? As the film proceeds, it explores the sense of this impression, how identical varieties can have two different exteriors. As flashbacks and the rigorous childhoods of the two players unfold, we learn how these competitive kids learned to disguise their true emotions in a bid to design their game strategy. Borg’s childhood reveals his hot-headedness, when he lost his cool quite consistently, almost snuffing out his career in tennis at one point, till his coach Lennart Bergelin (Stellan Skarsgård) taught him to channel all his anger and hurt into his game. McEnroe’s days and nights of childhood reveal a boy swimming against the tide of deep self-doubt, while his rival Borg decodes his extreme discipline behind his loud monkeyshines as a rabble-rouser.
Both are wearing a mask, and both know that the other is somehow aware of it. Finally, when they’re up against each other in the men’s singles final at the 1980 Wimbledon Championships, it’s the same coin, just the opposite sides.
Director Janus Metz Pedersen with a screenplay by Ronnie Sandahl has crafted a sports biopic like no other, and this stubborn stance of a narrative renegade is what gives the film its necessary edge.
The film never plays to the gallery, yet keeps you engaged like a shrewd raconteur. The colour palette of its period setting is a treat to the eyes, and the performances are topnotch across the board. Sverrir Gudnason is a stunning lookalike of Borg, and he evokes the unbending resolve and inner turmoil of a player like an existential poet. Shia LaBeouf is inspired casting as his off-screen infamy overlaps McEnroe’s personality, and the actor wrings every single muscle of his role to his advantage.
The final combat with its swerving camera angles, immediate score and combustible commentary is a thing to cheer on. Even if you missed the original match and its nail-biting tension, this recreated contest compensates with tremendous payoffs.
Like Amadeus was more interested in Salieri, Borg Vs. McEnroe is tilted more towards the Swedish sensation than the American counterpart. Rivalry you may not find full fold, but you steal a peek into the events that led to the mutual respect and consequent friendship between two artistes of tennis.
You’ve been served well.
(The writer is a journalist, a screenwriter, and a content developer who believes in the insanity of words, in print or otherwise. He tweets @RanjibMazumder)
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