‘In The Shadows’ review: Jasmine Jobson packs a punch as British-Somali boxer Ramla Ali in restrained biopic

Dir. Anthony Wonke. UK. 2026. 117mins

A portrait of British-Somali boxer Ramla Ali, Anthony Wonke’s drama In the Shadows may not quite deliver an uppercut to the sports movie template. But it benefits from thoughtful restraint and grounded realism, mixing the usual against-the-odds story of uncrushable determination with elements of romance, family conflict and cultural specificity, as it follows a young Muslim woman battling prejudice on the path to glory.

Elements of romance, family conflict and cultural specificity

The film was to be released by True Brit – which recently handled Prince Naseem boxing story Giant – but with that company going into administration, the producers have secured a release through Metis Films. Boxing dramas traditionally have their own genre niche within the field of sports cinema; In the Shadows will rely on that and Ramla Ali’s own cachet to provide some punch when its released on October 30, after its London Film Festival debut.

The film begins with images of Ali’s childhood in Somalia, during that country’s civil war; flashbacks to that period, with a family tragedy constituting the story’s primal trauma, will recur throughout. That initial sequence, with the young Ramla pursued by child soldiers, is underpowered. But once we see her as a teenager in London, buoyantly played by Suhayla Ahmed, the film finds its pace, settling into a familiar British realism mode. As she grows up, Ramla (now portrayed by Jasmine Jobson) finds herself struggling against the expectations of her immigrant family, who are intent on her following a traditional respectable path. But, while making headway as a law firm trainee, Ramla dreams of boxing glory – encountering the sexist scepticism that invariably features in female boxing stories, from Blonde Fist to Million Dollar Baby to the recent Christy.

Ramla does, in fact, find male support – from her younger brother Yasin (Samater Ahmed), bullish trainer Clinton (Gershwyn Eustache Jr) and gym regular Richard (Finn Cole), who becomes her closest ally and eventually her romantic partner. But Clinton soon shows a threatening possessive streak, while Ramla must also contend with her family’s disapproval as they discover her hitherto secret vocation.

Scripted by playwright Ursula Rani Sarma, creator of current BBC drama The Split Up, the film is thin both on narrative surprise and on character: Ramla is determined yet conflicted, while Richard (a version of Ali’s real-life husband Richard Moore, like her an executive producer here) is good-hearted, sensitive and devoted, but overall a nebulous figure, despite some sketching of his fraught family background.

Where the film does score, however, is in realism and cultural specificity. Director Wonke – a three-times BAFTA nominee for his documentaries, including Unmasking Jihadi John: Anatomy of a Terrorist – imparts believable detail both to the gym sequences and to the Somali background, including a wedding celebration. The drama also gels in a poignant extended sequence as Ramla and her parents have their long-awaited moment of truth – Hodan Yusuf making a strong impression throughout as her over-protective but loving mother.

In a role originally earmarked for Letitia Wright, Jobson – from TV’s Top Boy and MobLand, as well as Andrea Arnold’s Bird – makes a consistently forceful but calm impression, finding an easy balance between the expected level of East End sass and the thoughtful demeanour of a young legal professional with other trials on her mind. And, despite the limitations of his nice-guy role, Cole achieves a warm, easy rapport with Jobson that provides a consistent base note.

The film makes the best of its resources. As far as the boxing goes, the emphasis is on the training bouts – a culminating major event in Botswana is only reported – but this helps skirt those generic Big Fight moments that can fit uneasily in lower-budget films. The soundtrack, barring some over-insistent electronica and some oddly Gaelic flourishes, generally fits the context, taking in a surging Olivia Dean song and a soul choir number in keeping with the overall tone of feminist affirmation.