The Wrestler [MA]

Randy “The Ram” is a has-been wrestling champ, twenty years now past his prime. During the week he is stacking shelves in a supermarket, living for the weekend when he can be The Ram in the world of professional wrestling. But Randy’s life is greatly upheaved and he is forced to evaluate his current state when he suffers from a heart attack and the doctors warn him that his wrestling days should not be continued. In an attempt to better a life without the ring, Randy tries to make ties with his teenage daughter as well as spark a relationship with an aging stripper he’s known for some time. But without the allure of the ring and the sense of belonging that it affords, Randy feels that life holds for him no happiness. 

It’s known as the “resurrection of Mickey Rourke” and this is rightly so. The Wrestler is a deeply moving and silently devastating film that is gritty, brutal, and repulsive and yet compelling, moving, and strangely beautiful. Rourke’s performance is somewhat mirroring of his biography, but that makes the actions, trials, and confessions of Randy all the more heartbreaking and deeply moving. It really is a beautiful film. 

Randy “The Ram” is a has-been wrestling champ, twenty years now past his prime. During the week he is stacking shelves in a supermarket, living for the weekend when he can be The Ram in the world of professional wrestling. But Randy’s life is greatly upheaved and he is forced to evaluate his current state when he suffers from a heart attack and the doctors warn him that his wrestling days should not be continued. In an attempt to better a life without the ring, Randy tries to make ties with his teenage daughter as well as spark a relationship with an aging stripper he’s known for some time. But without the allure of the ring and the sense of belonging that it affords, Randy feels that life holds for him no happiness. 

Giving insight into the brutal yet false world of professional wrestling, the majority of the film’s beauty shines through in its brutal fight sequences and its out-of-ring close-knit community of the performers. The wrestlers never refer to a match as a “match”, but as a “gig” or a “show” thus making this brand of performers akin to any singer or dancer, of which numerous films have been made. 

The unexpected sincerity and companionship between these characters who appear positively ruthless and merciless in the ring, as well as the up-close-and-personal documentary style of filming, brings to the film a beautiful sense of realism and a human rawness and it also amplifies the overtones of golden-age syndrome, nostalgia, and despair that the main characters feel, living in a world where their careers are really for the young. Their struggles to become normal and lead regular lives within modern society make the movie all the more melancholy and emotionally stirring. 

Rourke was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor and Marisa Tomei was also nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Also starring Evan Rachel Wood, Mark Margolis, Todd Barry, Wass Stevens, Judah Friedlander, and Ernest Miller, The Wrestler is a deeply moving film that’s filled with trials, violence, drama, emotional journeys, and self-realisations. It’s really very beautiful despite the bouts of blood and violence in the ring.