The Wrestler - A-

On DVD and Blu-Ray

Lawyer already summed up the plot and his thoughts in his theatrical review here. The film begins with Randy (“The Ram”) Robinson (Mickey Rourke, in his career defining role) in an elementary school classroom, nursing some wounds after a wrestling match in the school gymnasium. Director Darren Aronofsky follows Randy around with his camera, keeping the back of his head in the frame. This not only makes us instantly relate to him by making his point of view ours, but allows us to see his surroundings and how others react to him. Aronofsky will keep the camera off of Rourke’s face for much of the first few scenes and will continue to follow him around with that camera, most notably as Randy descends the stairs at a supermarket at his daytime job as he the roar of the wrestling crowd is heard . . .

The best part of the film is the relationship between Randy and his favorite stripper Cassidy (Marisa Tomei, more beautiful and talented with every passing year). This is partly because of the indelible Oscar-worthy performances by both and partly because Aronofsky does a spectacular job drawing parallels between the 2 characters. Both use their bodies for their professions and their age is catching up with them. Both use false “performance” names and live with the seedy underbelly of society. A torn-out magazine picture of a naked woman’s torso is shown for a split second when Randy pulls a towel from his bathroom towel rack. Later, his own torso is reflected in a mirror, framed in a similar way. Aronofsky also places the American flag behind and around Randy several times. Is it because he epitomizes what’s right or wrong with America? Is it a subtle jab at America’s foreign policy being as self-destructive as Randy is? Draw your own conclusion.I’m not quite buying all the Christ symbolism, however. The first religious allusion has a “Ram” action figure on his dashboard (where Jesus or Jesus's mother normally would reside). Cassidy quotes from The Passion of the Christ in their first scene together. Later, in a brutal wrestling match, Randy receives a large gash in the left side of his body, gets glass embedded throughout his back (Cat of Nine Tails), falls on top of barbed wire which wraps around his forehead (Crown of Thorns). Near the end, he “sacrifices” himself for the crowd, though the reasons for this (entertainment purposes) are less noble and the number of people affected is considerably less than Jesus.With this film, Aronofsky has shown himself to be more than a “one-trick pony”, having previously only made above average mindbenders (Pi, Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain). Besides Springsteen, Aronofsky and the film itself were wrongfully passed over at Oscar nomination time in favor of the superficial Slumdog Millionaire. This film digs deep, hits hard, speaks volumes about a large segment of America, and ultimately settles for a terrific, ambiguous, open-ended finale. Will he reconcile with his daughter? How long will he continue wrestling? Can he make it work with Cassidy? We’ll never know, but by asking these questions, it clearly shows what a great job everyone involved did creating an authentic, lived-in world. A-