The Wrestler: A Review

As the credits rolled on The Wrestler, Darren Aronofsky’s newest film starring Mickey Rourke, Bruce Springsteen sings the line that captures Rourke’s capture: “If you’ve ever seen a one-trick pony, you’ve seen me.” That sums him up better than just about any other line, but what makes the film such a fascinating experience is just how interesting it is to watch this one-trick pony live his life.

Rourke stars as Randy “The Ram” Robinson, a wrestler (you know, the “fake” kind) who had a heyday back in the ’80’s, when he was the biggest star in his business. That career culminated in 1989 when he wrestled his nemesis in Madison Square Garden. 20 years later, we see The Ram in a very different light. He’s still wrestling, though now in the minor circuits for small change. Even so, we get two different views of him. Within the wrestling world, he is respected, still with a following that remembers his glory years, and especially among the other wrestlers, who clearly look to him as a mentor of sorts. Within that world, he’s charming, engaging, still with some talent.

In his other world, the real world, Randy can’t quite seem to make it work. He can’t afford the rent on his trailer, can’t quite get enough hours at the grocery store to pay the bills. He has a daughter that he abandoned years ago that he can’t reconcile with. As we see him with his hearing aid, we recognize that time is taking its toll, and that the body that serviced him for a career isn’t going to hold up.

This finally comes to fruition after a particularly brutal match (a scene that can easily alter one’s view of pro wrestling), Randy has a heart attack, and wakes up after having bypass surgery. The doctor says he can’t wrestle again.

As he starts to adjust to his new life, he decides to pursue the closest thing to a relationship that he knows, that of a stripper at the club he frequents. The choice of pairing a wrestler and a stripper is fantastic. It would be hard to come up with two jobs that are more about creating a fantasy world. In both cases, we peer into lives of people that are used to being looked upon as objects. Within both lives, we see the wounds that are tearing each of them down, as they cling to dreams that are slowly fading away.

Whether it’s a hope for love, for reconciling with his daughter, for making a living after wrestling, Randy sure does give it a try. But the demons in his life that have haunted him along the way still are there, and there’s not much that he can do right. There’s only one thing that Randy knows how to do, and that’s wrestle.

In a way, The Wrestler goes where the original Rocky could have gone. As it does, I found myself left with a profound sadness at the end of the movie. Sad at Randy’s inability to bring all of that charm and diligence from his wrestling life and put it to use in the other. Sad because Randy ultimately believed a lie, embracing a path that he didn’t need to embrace. Sad because there was a hope for him that he simply walked away from.

Still, Aronofsky has an ability (think Requiem for a Dream) to give us glimpses of the raw aspects of life without apology. And so he does here. There are indeed many who can’t push through their demons, can’t seem to make sense of things, never figure out the hope that is before them. They have a story too, and The Wrestler captures it as well as anyone. It made me think of an old country song:

Here’s to all the soliders who have ever died in vain,
The insane locked up in themselves, the homeless down on main,
For those who stand on empty shores, and spit against the wind.
And those who wait forever, for ships that don’t come in.