“The Wrestler” Takes You To The Mat And Leaves You There.

“The Wrestler” is a haunting look at the world of wrestling, not the glamour of Wrestle-mania where the lights are bright and the stage is in a huge arena but where the lights are dim and the ring could be in a VFW or American Legion hall or a high school gymnasium.

The film’s story centers around Randy “The Ram” Robinson, an aging wrestler played by Mickey Rourke. The Ram had his hey days in the 80’s who is still a fan favorite who is twenty years past his prime and doesn’t know it. He doesn’t have much money and lives in a trailer.

When Ram suffers a health setback and is forced to try to build a new life by reconnecting with a long abandoned daughter, Stephanie played by Rachel Evan Wood and taking a job at a supermarket deli. He has a hard time leaving the wrestling life behind.

Trying to help him cope is Cassidy, a sympathetic stripper played Marisa Tomei whose smile lights up the screen and melts your heart. Tomei is deservedly nominated for an Academy Award for “Best Supporting Actress” in the film.

What makes Rourke’s performance so memorable is that Ram is a good hearted guy who is very nice and fatherly to the up and coming wrestlers and trying to deal with being in trapped in human prison cell that has no bars, no walls but he can’t find the key to set himself free.

“The Wrestler” is an unflinching look at a man’s life. The film feels like a documentary because we (the audience) are following Ram around everywhere he go but he doesn’t know we are there. We want to help him but we can’t.

The makeup people on the film have to be given kudos for making Rourke’s body look rough and having the scars of years being in the wrestling wars.

There is an absolutely wonderful scene between Ram and Stephanie that is so heartfelt it will give you a lump in your throat and a tear in your eye.

So, far Rourke has been acknowledged for his acting effort in “The Wrestler” by winning a Golden Globe and BAFTA, the British Academy Award for “Best Actor” and was nominated for a Screen Actors Award (SAG). Up next, he is nominated for an Oscar for “Best Actor.”

In most cases, the actor is rewarded and the film’s director is left behind. “The Wrestler”’s director, Darren Aronofsky did an amazing job of bringing this story to the screen with the revealing close-ups, gritty camerawork and wrestling sequences that take you into the ring . The casting of Mickey Rourke was a stroke of genius.

“The Wrestler” smacks you in the head and the heart with a man’s pain, his desperation and his fleeting grasp for life.


The Wrestler is playing locally in at Tinseltown in Boardman

Sources: imdb.com, Wikipedia, yahoo movies, Variety.com