Review of the Month : THE WRESTLER (2009)

"I don't want to be alone ."
This is a hard truth for many of us when we find ourselves alone and facing the possibility of ending our days alone and broken. Nobody knows how much time we have left . That is one of the horrible uncertainties of life. And when faced with the prospect that our time has become painfully short, the fear of loneliness and the desire to be wanted becomes just as terrifying as the thought of dying. Anyway in my case,I don´t ever want to be alone. But if I am, I know there are times when I´ll be watching "The Wrestler".



synopsis :

Drama about an aging professional wrestler named Randy "The Ram" Robinson, decades past his prime, who now barely gets by working small wrestling shows and as a part-time grocery store employee. As he faces health problems that may end his wrestling career he attempts to come to terms with his life outside the ring by trying to reconcile with the daughter he abandoned in childhood and forming a closer bond with a stripper he has romantic feelings for.


Review :

The wrestling industry can launch soaring careers and it may destroy careers in a heartbeat. As a fan of the business, I would watch television shows as a kid, falling in love with the various characters on the card. You would see a new personality and tell all your friends that you wanted to get their merchandise gear like trump cards ,action figures... A few days, weeks, months, later that wrestler had disappeared from the broadcasts, without a single mention thenceforth from the commentators.When you are younger the only answer is that the wrestler had time off to heal injuries. Now, with this movie , i have finally understood some devastating truths.


Functioning primarily as a character study of a wrestler named Randy, the film that shows character's fall from glory into a truly pitiful state, his pumped up body steadily withering away, and his life reduced to solitary shambles, while still coasting by on his glory days from twenty years ago. Randy "The Ram" lives in the shadows of his once glorious wrestling career. He has no family ,save a daughter that hates him. He has no true friends .He has nothing but a van and constant struggles with landlords to keep from sleeping in it.The movie explores the harrowing outcome of what to do when the one thing a person knows how to do is no longer possible when their body gives out on them, and the pitiful search for scraps of meaning afterward.

The film's 2 other subplots try to divert our attention from the physical violence only to endure pain of a different sort, the kind in which the bleeding comes from the heart. One features a stripper and lap dancer named Cassidy who, in spite of Randy's persistence, refuses to treat
him as anything other than a paying customer. Trying to raise a nine-year old boy by herself, Cassidy is another example of someone who knows that she should quit but is forced by economic circumstances to go on.The other sub-plot revolves around Randy's estranged lesbian daughter Stephanie who is most unwelcome to Randy's overtures for reconciliation. Understandably bitter over her father's abandonment of the family when she needed him the most, Stephanie softens enough to go on an outing with her dad but any attempt at a new
beginning is squashed when Randy does not show up for a lunch date. Although the offense does not seem that grievous to us, given the extent of Stephanie's anger, if it wasn't this incident, it would probably have been another.

Another absorbing aspect of this powerhouse drama is the backstage nuance of low-rung pro-wrestling. In the dreary snow of New Jersey, Randy and his challengers make the rounds of dingy union halls, school gyms, community centers, using whatever they can find for makeshift dressing rooms, duct-taping their wounds, priming their pumps and agreeing minutes before a match on its script.The movie doesn't just deconstruct the mythical image of wrestlers' performances. It's clear that these guys are friends--they care about and respect each other. The film respects them and their world, and demands the same from the audience.

The Wrestler is without a doubt Darren Aronofosky's most straightforward films to date and proves that he is the talent to handle a wide range of genres and styles.With the wintry coastal New Jersey setting as his backdrop, director Aronofsky lets the drama unfold at a seductively leisurely pace, letting us get to know each of these characters and the rhythm of their lives in finely-drawn, intimate detail.Screenwriter Robert D. Siegel keeps the story spare and simple, not cluttering it up with fancy narrative flourishes or overblown melodramatics.One of The Wrestler's greatest assets is its camera-work . Fluid and almost documentary style, it also manages to be a commentary on theme and character. Often when Rourke is walking to a new location, the camera follows close behind, hand-held. This deliberately apes that oft-used shot of a fighter on the way to the ring.The fine title song by Bruce Springsteen must not be forgotten, either. After "Streets Of Philadelphia" and "Dead Man Walking" this is his third soundtrack contribution that captures the feel of a movie beautifully.

The Wrestler" wouldn't be half as good if Mickey Rourke hadn't given the main character a face and a heart. Rarely does an actor get the chance to inhabit a role quite as fully as Rourke does here. With his bulging muscles and greasy, long-flowing hair, Rourke brings an amazing physicality to the character, making us feel every ache, pain and body blow the man suffers, both inside the arena and out, as he hauls his massive, badly bruised carcass through life.With Rourke it's not so much an actor memorizing lines and delivering them convincingly, it's like watching a guy having gone through hell and now showing his scars. One look at his face reminds us of all the hits and punches he must have taken in the past.Marisa Tomei brings a touch of understanding to her role, that of a stripper with a heart. It's been done many a time before but there's a grace to this performance that makes an impression, the way it complements Rourke's interest in her.Evan Rachel Wood is also devastatingly believable as Randy's cast away daughter, with Wood providing an achingly wounded soul underneath her character's mask of indignant fury towards her father.

How to conclude ;

There has been a lot of discussion about the conclusion of "The Wrestler." Some people are quite bitter and put off by the abrupt manner in which Aronofsky ends his film. Does Randy live ? Does he die? What happens to Randy? There is no closure to the ending and many people simply cannot grasp the beauty of this ending.To understand the ending ,look inside yourself and think about your own mortality. Ponder whether or not you would want to be alone and broken or if it would be better to absolutely love your last moments on Earth? Do you want to die alone or die happy? How do you want to go out?.....That will be your own conclusion of this movie.


Title : The wrestler

Director : Darren Aronofsky

Cast : Mickey Rourke , Marisa Tomei , Evan Rachel Wood

Rated R for sexuality , violence ,drug use

Country :USA

Language :English

DvD Features :Behind-the-Scenes Documentary and Bruce Springsteen Music Video

Trailer Link :www.youtube.com/watch?v=61-GFxjTyV0

Torrent File Name :The Wrestler ((2008)) DvDrip(divx)BigbrO