American Wrestler: The Wizard Page #3

Oh, thank you.

You still wanna

tutor me in French?

- Yes, of course.

- Cool.

Can you meet me at my mom's

restaurant at, like

seven?

I- i have to work until then,

but she'll make you dinner.

Okay, th-that sounds great.

- I'll, I'll see you then.

- Groovy.

- 'What a douche. '

- Keep up the losing streak.

What are you, zero and seven?

'You get two points

for a takedown'

two points for a reversal,

one for an escape

which... Means

getting out of a..

...hold. Right?

Um, come on.

These are your

five basic moves. Learn them.

Wrestling more than any

other sport teaches pride.

Respect yourself,

respect your opponent, and..

And the results will come.

You.. You just..

Come on, boys.

Stretch it out.

You don't listen

too good, do you?

Well, he..

The kid's second-string.

He's not gonna compete.

You know, I just..

- You just felt sorry for him.

- He's got a fire in his belly.

Look, I'm warning you.

It's gonna turn into a circus.

You don't want this.

No good for you

and it's no good for this boy.

My advice..

Let him go now.

What's going on?

This is your zurkhaneh.

Your house of strength.

This is where you'll train.

And you'll humbly bow

in respect to your ancestors

every time

you step inside.

- Are you ready?

- Yes.

When genghis Khan invaded Iran

500 years ago

he took away

all our weapons.

Your ancestors secretly trained

themselves to kill people

with their bare hands.

We call this

varzesh-e pahlavani.

The sport of the ancients.

You want to learn, hm?

Or do you want to eat sh*t

your whole life?

I want to learn.

I want to learn.

Good.

Now, come on, be a man.

If you're going to be

irritated by every rub

how will you ever be polished?

'These are meels. '

this set

has been in our family

since the time

of nader shah.

You practice them

in sets of 100.

'If you can get through

100 swings without stopping'

you move on

to the next biggest.

You swing them

like this.

One.

Two.

Three.

You try.

Ugh.

Strengthen your wrist.

A hundred?

There's no sport

that requires

more stamina

than wrestling. None.

Start again. Go.

Wait. Aren't you

going to count?

What, are you Lebanese?

You want to drive a Mercedes

while your children starve?

Now, you want others

to think you're strong

when you know you're weak?

Count for yourself.

Cheat if you don't care to win.

- Ms. Larsen.

- 'Hi, you must be Ali. '

I am kristi's mom.

Thank you for helping her

with her French.

Of course.

Um, where is she?

I thought you'd be

more comfortable in the back.

Hi.

Are you gonna sit down?

Looks like your mother has

banished me from the restaurant.

Should I start using

the backdoor from now on?

- I..

- What is she so afraid of?

What your father will think?

My father's dead.

Oh.

Look, I'm sorry.

Look, the people

in this town..

I mean, it's gonna

take them a while

to get used

to the thought of you.

And I'm sorry

that it's like that.

But my mom just can't

afford to lose business

until that happens.

Hey.

You understand, right?

Is it alright if I ask

what happened to your father?

He was drafted

when I was little.

He just never came back.

That happened

to my brother too.

I'm lucky to have an uncle here

so I could escape the war.

Wait, lucky?

People here

are so awful to you.

How do you stand it?

Simple.

I should've been dead.

Instead, I'm here

in California

sitting across

from a pretty girl

who's not covered

from head to toe

and nobody's

putting us in jail.

So, where're you having

the most problems?

Oh, everywhere.

Well, let's start

with personal pronouns.

That's "open your book. "

Yeah, I knew that.

- Sure.

- 'Together.. '

together, we're going to do

what has to be done.

We're going to put America,

back to work again.

Ugh, why do we even bother?

Three matches in and he still

keep Ali on the sidelines.

"Bosom buddies" is on TV

if you want better jokes.

See the way

he look at me?

We should go.

Come on, stand up!

Alright.

It's alright. Come on, we'll get

'em. Get 'em on the next one.

'One twenty-six pound wrestlers,

please check in. '

- Brian caulfield.

- Brian caulfield.

Stay focused.

Where's Marv?

- Toad, check the back.

- Okay.

I found him. He's puking his

guts out and it-it looks bad.

- Right now?

- Yeah.

Ohh, sh*t!

Coach, now if we forfeit the

126s, we-we lose the match.

'One twenty-six

pound wrestlers'

'approach

the head table, please. '

that's Ali's class.

Look at them.

They would rather lose than see

a persian boy beat a white boy.

Idiots!

Sh*t, hafez!

What're you doing?

Nobody saw, let's go.

Let's get out of here, come on.

Will the 126-pound wrestler

from east petaluma

'approach the table'

or forfeit the match.

Jahani.

Come on, jahani. You're up.

Hey, it's that iranian kid.

- Hey, look.

- Wait, what?

We lose, if you get pinned

we could tie,

if he beats you by points.

It's the other way around.

- Okay, so don't get pinned?

- No, don't risk it.

If he gets you down on the mat,

you stay on your stomach, okay?

What, what if I can win?

No, no, you win

by not getting pinned.

Or hurt. Understand? Okay?

So, much

for winning the gold.

Don't get pinned.

Ali jahani.

Oh, boy.

'... Ali jahani!'

what did he just say?

I think they just called Ali.

Son of a b*tch.

Hafez, wait.

I don't think

it's a good idea.

Iran, go home.

The iron sheik.

Watch out

for the camel plunge.

Don't listen to them.

Come on, Ali.

You got this.

'That's it, stay down. '

That's it, you're doing good.

Just stay down, just stay down.

Great going, yeah, that's it.

That's it.

Face up!

'Ali, pasho.

Lift the back, pasho. '

pasho, Ali.

Ali, pasho.

Ali, pasho! Pasho! Pasho!

Listen to me.

Right there. It's beautiful.

Pasho, Ali. Pasho.

No! Don't get up!

'There you go.

Right there. '

right there, that's it.

No!

Ali, listen to me.

Look at me, lay down. Stay down.

Okay? Go, get on.

Come on, Ali.

'Iran, go home. '

- listen!

- Pasho.

'Stay. '

you're doing great, man.

That's it.

'That's it. '

That's it.

No!

- No, whoa!

- Beat him!

Yay!

Yeah! Yes!

Stop. Oh, my god.

Winner, at 126 pounds

'Ali jahani. '

you just earned yourself

a ten-mile run.

Next time you don't

do what I say

you're off the team.

You get that?

- But I won. We won.

- No, no, no.

You almost got pinned.

Individual glory

does not come before the good

of your team. Okay?

'From healdsburg, Jeff corona. '

'from east petaluma,

Brad flores. '

good. Sick of losing.

We can win.

- 'Yes! Turn him over. '

- 'Let's do it. '

they almost started to riot.

You didn't catch that?

Dan, this is precisely

what I did not want.

It's good.

You're pushing me right

to the edge, aren't you?

- The kid may have some talent.

- I'm glad you know it.

Come on, watch your leg.

Lean back

and get 'em together.

Take it. Here. Pull over

and pile 'em.

You see? Like that.

Yeah!

One, two, three..

Yes!

Now, sit

the way I told you to.

Nice.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes