Wrestling with fate

Rating: 8/10 (14 February 2011)

I saw this film only a few days after seeing Daniel Aronofsky's acclaimed ballet movie, "Black Swan", which may well propel the hard working Natalie Portman to a well-deserved Oscar. I thought it was a brilliant but rather cold and nasty piece of work. In this earlier film, notable for the resurrection of the wayward Mickey Rourke's career, the approach is much more sympathetic. In both films Aronofsky gets the audience inside the main character's mind – in fact we hardly go outside it. Mickey's Randy the clapped out wrestler is a familiar figure. and not difficult to understand. Pro wrestling as practiced in the US is entertainment rather than sport, but Randy's body can no longer put up with the physical abuse involved. Randy knows this, yet he cannot embrace retirement, or at least life in alternative employment, in his case behind a supermarket delicatessen counter. He also has personal issues, an estranged daughter and his relationship with a pole-dancer, the latter played by the always interesting Marisa Tomei.
Mickey puts in a faultless performance. His Randy exudes bravado but his aggression is well under control. In his quieter moments he shows gentleness and sensitivity. Unfortunately his propensity for hell-raising interferes with his personal relationships, though his ring performance is less affected. We know things are not going to end well but they do end neatly.
The world of pro wrestling is not seen in a glamorous light and the film is unlikely to boost trade. While we get a very clear picture of what might drive a competitor like Randy in this business, I was at the end of the day no clearer about what motivates the audience. Is this some survivor of a more atavistic age where people derive pleasure from seeing others bashing each other up? Boxing, in comparison, is much more structured and physically skilled. In pro wrestling we seem to be satisfying some pretty primitive desires. Randy the Ram knows what his audience wants and will just about kill himself to give it to them, but the audience won't really care if he dies on the job.
"Black Swan" packed a bigger emotional punch than "The Wrestler". Yet I felt for the wrestler but not for the ballerina. Aronofsky is one of those directors who can coax a stunning performance out of apparently ordinary actors, and there must be a long queue outside his casting agency.