The Wrestler

Rating: 10/10 (22 January 2010)

Rating ***** Directed by Darren Aronofsky Starring Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood
Two words: Mickey Rourke. If Humphrey Bogart was made for Casablanca, Mickey Rourke was made for The Wrestler. What do the two have in common? Neither won the Academy Award for best actor in a leading role. Here we see two guys who not only made it impossible for the performance to be more perfect, but lived the role. When we think of Casablanca, we think Bogart. 66 years later when we think The Wrestler, we think Mickey Rourke. What would have happened if Nicholas Cage would have stepped into the shoes of Randy "The Ram" Robinson? The answer is simple: nothing at all. Simple as pie.
Before going into further praise about the star man, Darren Aranofsky mastered a story about a washed-up wrestler twenty years after his prime. There is no better example than the film in question when it comes to "less is more". With a budget of $7,000,000 in an age where the average budget for a feature film running in the cinemas was rising from $60 million to $100 million, Aranofsky chose a style which allowed realism to reach the viewer's inner core. Much of the story accompanied by a shaking hand-held camera brings the coldness of the streets to life. The sounds and smells of the streets and of a roaring crowd reaches out like a light from the mist; it gives the viewer shivers. This is not a story made on paper, it is made through the reality of a broken down place in the life of The Ram.
There is no location more ideal than the streets of New Jersey that have seen better days; just like The Ram has. Shot in only 35 days, The Wrestler uncovers the back rooms of old buildings, a trailer park, a strip joint, a peer with a ferris wheel near by (which also has seen better days) and in the home of wild wrestling-maniac's. He has come into terms that he no longer empowers the physicality that his former self once did. But for The Ram, this is all he has. He tries the best he can to look younger by dyeing his hair, going to the solarium and lifting weights in clear anguish. This is a man that has failed in life and has nothing left to lose but his little left health. And he knows it.
The storyline evolves around the man himself, but also around the few people in his life. His daughter played well by Wood, the stripper and the woman of his life also performed brilliantly by Tomei, and the whole wrestling community. While he can't win over his daughter or the love of Tomei's character Cassidy, it seems as if he is destined to go out doing what he loves the most. Wrestle. He may have aged, but his passion has stayed the same. The younger wrestlers respect him and the fans love him. When he stands on the ropes while the crowd chants "Ram Jam! Ram Jam!", his broken down heart is filled with love rather than (physical) pain. If it were to make the people who love him happy, it would be worth it. He is The Ram and The Ram will give the fans what they want.
This is not a performance made by an actor who simply seemed suitable for the role, but by a man who has literally lived the life of The Ram. While The Ram gets his comeback, so does Rourke, and boy does he deliver. If there ever was a performance that should be recognized, it should be this one. Hands down. Rourke doesn't deliver a performance, he delivers reality. He is "an old broken down piece of meat" and he has "burned the candle at both ends" and that is exactly why it makes the role of The Ram more life-like. The viewer knows this. While someone may criticize for him not playing a role but more playing himself, it makes absolutely no difference at all. If you put something on the screen and it works, what more can you ask? Where is that golden statue?
There is no better ending that comes to mind within the 2000's (except for maybe Brokeback Mountain). A good ending is an ending that evokes emotions (good or bad). When Bruce Springsteen's "The Wrestler" fills the air, the viewer is left with only assumptions. The screen turns black and The Ram is no longer with us. Perfection.