Edit: a quick note - I link to some YouTube videos of CZW wrestling below. If you decide to check them out, please note that they are very likely to be disturbing and gross. I watched one - barely - because I wanted to see what "real" CZW wrestling was like. Turns out - unsurprisingly - I'm not a fan of that kind of stuff. I'd rather see Vince's cartoonish version instead. Just a heads up.
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A long-overdue review of "The Wrestler", per the relentless prodding of my cousin Chris*:
I had heard about the movie during it's production, and would have been hesitant to give it much of a chance if not for the fact that I knew Darren Aronofsky was directing. In less capable hands, this story would have been a mess ... how does one tell a fictional story about fictional characters who pretend to be *other* fictional characters telling fictional stories?
Only in the world of professional wrestling ...
Though I don't watch as often as I used to, I'm still a fan. I'm not embarrassed to admit it. It's like a soap opera, but sports-based. "Sports"-based. Or something like that. What we see on TV is just a silly story punctuated by incredible athleticism, feats of bravery, good vs. evil, and a cliffhanger every week. Plus, it's done live in front of thousands of fans. (Take that, "Desperate Housewives"!) But it's so much more than that, too, for anyone who is a "smart", who understands that there's more to the story than just what's on TV.
I'm also not going to defend the business. Everyone knows about the Chris Benoit tragedy. Everyone knows about Owen Hart's horrible accident. Everyone knows about issues with steroids, and Vince McMahon being a difficult and demanding boss (and a great promoter and businessman, as well as ... well, a pretty weird guy sometimes).
But what about the guys who aren't in the spotlight? Guys who never made it big and graduated on to better things before their bodies gave up on them? Or guys who gave up on themselves, instead? For every success story like Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, there are hundreds of anonymous gym rats who treat their bodies like lab rats instead.
This is not a film about wrestling, despite the title. This is a movie about Randy "The Ram" Robinson, a man who gave up on himself years ago and has slowly watched his life fall apart, town by town, road trip by road trip, because he simply doesn't know how (or want) to do anything else. It's also about a man who really doesn't know who he is, because he's blurred the line between the man he actually is and the persona he becomes when he pulls on his tights.
The Ram used to be a huge star: he held national championship titles, wrestled on some of the biggest cards of his time, and was well loved by his adoring fans. This we learn before the opening credits finish rolling. But we also know his time has long since passed - his choice of his own "entrance theme" music gives it away.
He's still in good ring shape, aided by injections, tanning sessions, and hair dying. But now he lives alone in a trailer that he can barely afford. He has to wear a hearing aid. His entertainment is a small TV, an old 8-bit video game system (with which he is able to re-live his glory days with the kids in the neighborhood), and a rack full of audio cassettes from the Reagan/Bush era. To make ends meet, he works part-time at a supermarket for a boss who clearly looks down upon the choices that The Ram has made in life.
But wrestling is all he knows and loves - and he's driven by the "pop" he gets from the fans when he comes through the curtains and down to the ring, even if it just for a few dozen fans at a local VFW hall. One of the most powerful scenes in the film, in my opinion, takes place as he wanders through the bland cement hallways of a building, winding his way through stairwells and passages, only to split the curtain hanging over the door while he hears the fans building to a crescendo only to discover ... well, I won't ruin it for you. It's a heartbreaking glimpse into the Ram's psyche, at any rate - an indication that the way he wants the world to react to him and the way he needs to react to the world are vastly different.
He justifies the risks he takes by thinking its what the fans want to see, though what he sees through his own eyes scares him (at a "legends" convention, some of his contemporaries are in wheelchairs, or have to wear bags to collect their urine). He knows this could be his own future, yet pushes forth in matches that would make performers half his age second guess their chosen careers (the match against Necro Butcher in CZW is not for the feint of heart).
The colorful, larger than life characters a wrestling fan might expect to see in the ring are brought back to earth in the locker room, where "the boys" are paired up prior to the matches to discuss how their bouts are scheduled to conclude, and to figure out how their "spots" (pre-determined wrestling moves) will be worked into the performances.
It reminded me of a time in the late 90s, when I went to see ECW (the pre-WWE version) in Webster, MA. A relative was on the school board (if I recall correctly) in Webster, and was helping to run a concession stand at the event as a school fundraiser. She knew I was a fan, and got me into the building a couple of hours before the show to help "set up". I maybe moved some bags of ice, but pretty much just lurked in the shadows watching the wrestlers get ready. I saw Joel Gertner sitting in the front row eating donut after donut. I saw Beulah McGillicutty walking her dog around the arena. I saw Tommy Dreamer and Raven in the ring practicing their scheduled match ahead of time, at half-speed. But they weren't Gertner, Dreamer and Raven ... they were the people who played them. Gertner, Dreamer and Raven didn't show up until a few hours later.
It was a little odd to see back then, but when I saw it on the big screen I understood it. I'd seen it before. For real. In person.
Maybe that's what made this movie resonate so much ... it's also real, even though it's fictional. Randy "The Ram" Robinson doesn't exist, but Necro Butcher is indeed a very real wrestler (most of his matches are heavy on gore and violence, not the stuff one sees on TV every week) who actually makes a living in this non-big screen life by putting his body through torture, for lack of a better word. CZW, Combat Zone Wrestling, is a very real independent promotion. ROH, Ring of Honor, is highlighted in the film's final match, and is likely to be the next "big thing" to bubble up from the underground of the industry. As for that final match, it was taped during a real ROH show at Philadelphia's legendary ECW Arena, the closest thing to wrestling Mecca in the US outside of Madison Square Garden.
Though the lead in this film, wonderfully portrayed by Mickey Rourke (who is absolutely worthy of all the acclaim he's received for his performance), is a fictional creation, it was hard not to watch him and think of names of real life wrestlers who could easily have taken his place had this film been a documentary feature instead: Jake "The Snake" Roberts comes to mind. Sabu, sadly, could also lace up the Ram's boots someday soon. If you haven't seen "Beyond the Mat" or "Heroes of World Class" (about WCCW and the Von Erichs), they're both documentaries about the business and I can't recommend them highly enough.
(A sidebar about Mickey Rourke: enough of this "comeback" talk, movie critics! Does NO ONE remember his criminally overlooked performance in "Sin City"? He was deserving of a Best Supporting Actor nomination for that movie, too.)
The subplots are also compelling. Randy has an estranged daughter, who doesn't know her father because he was always on the road instead of at home raising her. Marisa Tomei plays Cassidy, a stripper who faces a battle parallel to that of The Ram's: splitting her life between two distinct personalities, and not being able to separate them fully from each other.
In the end, "The Wrestler" is a sad movie (not Kleenex sad, generally just a downer kind of sad) with an uncomfortable, ambiguous ending wholly appropriate in keeping with the general tone of the film.
Though one knows how a wrestling match is supposed to end, "real life" is not at all so simple.
* (just kidding, Chris - I should have written this and responded to you long ago).
************
A long-overdue review of "The Wrestler", per the relentless prodding of my cousin Chris*:
I had heard about the movie during it's production, and would have been hesitant to give it much of a chance if not for the fact that I knew Darren Aronofsky was directing. In less capable hands, this story would have been a mess ... how does one tell a fictional story about fictional characters who pretend to be *other* fictional characters telling fictional stories?
Only in the world of professional wrestling ...
Though I don't watch as often as I used to, I'm still a fan. I'm not embarrassed to admit it. It's like a soap opera, but sports-based. "Sports"-based. Or something like that. What we see on TV is just a silly story punctuated by incredible athleticism, feats of bravery, good vs. evil, and a cliffhanger every week. Plus, it's done live in front of thousands of fans. (Take that, "Desperate Housewives"!) But it's so much more than that, too, for anyone who is a "smart", who understands that there's more to the story than just what's on TV.
I'm also not going to defend the business. Everyone knows about the Chris Benoit tragedy. Everyone knows about Owen Hart's horrible accident. Everyone knows about issues with steroids, and Vince McMahon being a difficult and demanding boss (and a great promoter and businessman, as well as ... well, a pretty weird guy sometimes).
But what about the guys who aren't in the spotlight? Guys who never made it big and graduated on to better things before their bodies gave up on them? Or guys who gave up on themselves, instead? For every success story like Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, there are hundreds of anonymous gym rats who treat their bodies like lab rats instead.
This is not a film about wrestling, despite the title. This is a movie about Randy "The Ram" Robinson, a man who gave up on himself years ago and has slowly watched his life fall apart, town by town, road trip by road trip, because he simply doesn't know how (or want) to do anything else. It's also about a man who really doesn't know who he is, because he's blurred the line between the man he actually is and the persona he becomes when he pulls on his tights.
The Ram used to be a huge star: he held national championship titles, wrestled on some of the biggest cards of his time, and was well loved by his adoring fans. This we learn before the opening credits finish rolling. But we also know his time has long since passed - his choice of his own "entrance theme" music gives it away.
He's still in good ring shape, aided by injections, tanning sessions, and hair dying. But now he lives alone in a trailer that he can barely afford. He has to wear a hearing aid. His entertainment is a small TV, an old 8-bit video game system (with which he is able to re-live his glory days with the kids in the neighborhood), and a rack full of audio cassettes from the Reagan/Bush era. To make ends meet, he works part-time at a supermarket for a boss who clearly looks down upon the choices that The Ram has made in life.
But wrestling is all he knows and loves - and he's driven by the "pop" he gets from the fans when he comes through the curtains and down to the ring, even if it just for a few dozen fans at a local VFW hall. One of the most powerful scenes in the film, in my opinion, takes place as he wanders through the bland cement hallways of a building, winding his way through stairwells and passages, only to split the curtain hanging over the door while he hears the fans building to a crescendo only to discover ... well, I won't ruin it for you. It's a heartbreaking glimpse into the Ram's psyche, at any rate - an indication that the way he wants the world to react to him and the way he needs to react to the world are vastly different.
He justifies the risks he takes by thinking its what the fans want to see, though what he sees through his own eyes scares him (at a "legends" convention, some of his contemporaries are in wheelchairs, or have to wear bags to collect their urine). He knows this could be his own future, yet pushes forth in matches that would make performers half his age second guess their chosen careers (the match against Necro Butcher in CZW is not for the feint of heart).
The colorful, larger than life characters a wrestling fan might expect to see in the ring are brought back to earth in the locker room, where "the boys" are paired up prior to the matches to discuss how their bouts are scheduled to conclude, and to figure out how their "spots" (pre-determined wrestling moves) will be worked into the performances.
It reminded me of a time in the late 90s, when I went to see ECW (the pre-WWE version) in Webster, MA. A relative was on the school board (if I recall correctly) in Webster, and was helping to run a concession stand at the event as a school fundraiser. She knew I was a fan, and got me into the building a couple of hours before the show to help "set up". I maybe moved some bags of ice, but pretty much just lurked in the shadows watching the wrestlers get ready. I saw Joel Gertner sitting in the front row eating donut after donut. I saw Beulah McGillicutty walking her dog around the arena. I saw Tommy Dreamer and Raven in the ring practicing their scheduled match ahead of time, at half-speed. But they weren't Gertner, Dreamer and Raven ... they were the people who played them. Gertner, Dreamer and Raven didn't show up until a few hours later.
It was a little odd to see back then, but when I saw it on the big screen I understood it. I'd seen it before. For real. In person.
Maybe that's what made this movie resonate so much ... it's also real, even though it's fictional. Randy "The Ram" Robinson doesn't exist, but Necro Butcher is indeed a very real wrestler (most of his matches are heavy on gore and violence, not the stuff one sees on TV every week) who actually makes a living in this non-big screen life by putting his body through torture, for lack of a better word. CZW, Combat Zone Wrestling, is a very real independent promotion. ROH, Ring of Honor, is highlighted in the film's final match, and is likely to be the next "big thing" to bubble up from the underground of the industry. As for that final match, it was taped during a real ROH show at Philadelphia's legendary ECW Arena, the closest thing to wrestling Mecca in the US outside of Madison Square Garden.
Though the lead in this film, wonderfully portrayed by Mickey Rourke (who is absolutely worthy of all the acclaim he's received for his performance), is a fictional creation, it was hard not to watch him and think of names of real life wrestlers who could easily have taken his place had this film been a documentary feature instead: Jake "The Snake" Roberts comes to mind. Sabu, sadly, could also lace up the Ram's boots someday soon. If you haven't seen "Beyond the Mat" or "Heroes of World Class" (about WCCW and the Von Erichs), they're both documentaries about the business and I can't recommend them highly enough.
(A sidebar about Mickey Rourke: enough of this "comeback" talk, movie critics! Does NO ONE remember his criminally overlooked performance in "Sin City"? He was deserving of a Best Supporting Actor nomination for that movie, too.)
The subplots are also compelling. Randy has an estranged daughter, who doesn't know her father because he was always on the road instead of at home raising her. Marisa Tomei plays Cassidy, a stripper who faces a battle parallel to that of The Ram's: splitting her life between two distinct personalities, and not being able to separate them fully from each other.
In the end, "The Wrestler" is a sad movie (not Kleenex sad, generally just a downer kind of sad) with an uncomfortable, ambiguous ending wholly appropriate in keeping with the general tone of the film.
Though one knows how a wrestling match is supposed to end, "real life" is not at all so simple.
* (just kidding, Chris - I should have written this and responded to you long ago).
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