Free Skate (2022) Film Review
Even the best athletes in the world have had to endure grievances that make their journey much more poetic and inspiring. It seems like a good part of their story is overcoming themselves but also what surrounds them and diminishes them into pieces in a game where victories are common but never out of the ordinary. But again, they always inspire as we put them at the top as beings with the capacity to do things that are out of this world. They are superpeople.
Roope Olenius‘ feature Free Skate adds something very intense to the formula. Through a dramatic adaptation of thousands of stories, we learn of a female skater’s trip in escaping a country where repression is usual, and entering the free world. Trauma is her motivation, yes, but it isn’t a mere word. Her past is represented in the narrative structure that’s filled with flashbacks that reveal the horrendous circumstances that made her take a leap of faith into the unknown.
As the skater overcomes the initial stages of the healing process, more arises. From the horrific body shaming that even embarrasses her today, to an abusive relationship that simply limited her. The past is heavy enough to drown her in skepticism and lack of self-trust. Until she doesn’t face the hovering memories she won’t succeed in a society that’s able to accept her for who she is and what she can accomplish.
Written by Veera W. Vilo, who is a real-life gymnast and plays the lead role, Free Skate is illuminating enough for its statement to be recognized and absorbed by an audience who’s naturally hungry for inspiring stories, even if they feel distant from a cultural point of view. It’s a compelling film without the necessity of even giving a name to its lead, a decision that may have more to do with the universality of the conflict.
Yes, Free Skate engages you, but it’s not your average sports movie with the typical training sequences and a washed-up third act. The drama is pointed towards the lead character’s growth beyond the trauma that’s revealed early in the film. This is what Free Skate is about, and it works alongside the dynamics of a story set around a very complicated sport that’s also impressive to look at when it’s done well. This one actually is. Olenius confidently includes sequences of figure skating that are beautiful to evidence and masterfully crafted by Vilo who gives it all in the executions of routines as well as the dramatic performances.
At times, Free Skate feels cold as ice (ha!) in its narrative but the film evolves in its own rhythm and under the frame of the culture it takes place in. The Nordic style is far too invasive to disregard as part of the plot, so Olenius makes good use of space to include it as an emotional element that makes the lead’s journey much more restricted and hard to mold. Regardless, the film’s very well shot even when it feels static in its cinematography and the way the cameras interact in a powerful story about human resilience and what it can actually achieve.
Free Skate is a female-led feature with a storyline as unforgiving as the place it takes place in. It’s hard to find hope in the dark, but Vilo manages to bring light to the audience’s perspective with an honest role that can’t be easy to perform, or write.
