MAKE THEM BELIEVE: Dreams & Dropkicks

By day, Timofei Maltser is an average college student, who has a girlfriend and lives in a dorm. But by night, Maltser plays a villainous American in Moscow’s underground wrestling scene. He goes by the persona of “The American Hope,” and after years of training, he has a match against the biggest wrestler in Russia, Ivan Markov, for the championship belt.

Meltzer’s journey is the focus of the short, Russian documentary, Make Them Believe. The film, directed by Taimi Arvidson, takes a close look at the drive of the human spirit. It’s about the average person struggling to fulfill their dreams.

Pure Magic

Besides the theme of the film, Arvidson’s directing style and the cinematography are the highlights of Make Them Believe. Cinematographer Nick Midwig cleverly catches stunning imagery of Moscow, which is then juxtaposed with the gritty images of this underground wrestling world. Audiences will see beautiful, historical monuments and buildings to only later be met with shots of dirty gyms and torn up wrestling rings.

Seemingly, this is Midwig and Arvidson illustrating the two worlds that Maltser lives in. One world is rooted in reality. This is where he watches wrestling in his small dorm room and where the viewers, through the eyes of tourists and local college students, see the city of Moscow.

Comparatively, the audience is then transported to Maltser’s fantasy world. Here, he is surrounded and engulfed by the glitz and glamour of professional wrestling. The sites and sounds of Moscow and his real life disappear, and his heel persona emerges. Maltser refers to this transformation as, “pure magic.”

Being exposed to both worlds allows the audience to understand the type of escape wrestling is for the young athlete. Had this short just showed his in-ring lifestyle, it would have lost the wonder of what Maltser is chasing. Showing the audience his life in and out of the spotlight adds that layer of complexity that makes this 13-minute film memorable. 

Is It Really About Wrestling?

To this day, professional wrestling remains one of the most controversial forms of entertainment. Is it fake? Is it real? Does it matter? These are the questions that surface when the world of wrestling is brought into a conversation. But, for some individuals wrestling is everything.

Make Them Believe opens with Maltser describing what he loves about being a wrestler, “There is things I do in the ring, that I can’t do in real life. I get to turn into a superhero.” He goes on to describe how watching the American wrestling federation, WWF (now WWE), and superstar Bill Goldberg changed his life.

But, Make Them Believe, isn’t about professional wrestling. While fans of the sport will be impressed by how well Arvidson quickly translates the spirit of it all, non-fans will be just as moved. Sure, the majority of the short documentary takes place within a wrestling ring, but it’s about the guy in it. More specifically, it’s about the dreamer.

Make Them Believe works because of how relatable it is. Nearly everyone who watches this short will be able to relate to Maltser and his journey. At one point or another, everybody wants to achieve their dreams and make it into the spotlight, and that is what this documentary is about.

The film really examines how far people are willing to go to achieve their goals. Maltser gets beat up, allowing bigger guys to throw him to the canvas, just so one day he can become a pre-determined champion. To some, it sounds silly, but to Maltser it means everything.

Make Them Believe

Just like when an aspiring artist is having his or her first gallery, or when an aspiring filmmaker has their movie debut at a film festival, no matter how small – those are the moments they live for. Even if Maltser never makes it big, those small moments of triumph are worth every moment of struggle. Simply put, we are all wrestlers just waiting to have our hand raised at the end of a wrestling match.

Filmmaker, Taimi Arvidson, stated that she is not a fan of professional wrestling. So, why do you think she picked it to be the subject of her first film?