The Wrestler

The Wrestler

2008

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Writer: Robert Siegel

109 Minutes

Randy “The Ram” (Mickey Rourke) came into our hearts as an ill-faded, has-been wrestler who was knocked down by a heart attack and missed his window of any personal relationship.

Who else know this kind of emotional pain and suffering more than Mickey Rourke?

The joys of this low-budget feature are to see a man with one shot at redemption and failing miserably at it. He wants to be a good person, nice father, but he is “The Ram” – he only knows how to be “Ram Jam.” He struggles in his quest to regain a relationship with his lesbian daughter Stephanie (Evan Rachel Wood) and tries to carry on a stripper-client relationship with Cassidy (Marisa Tomei) outside the strip club.

All fails.

“Ram Jam” is a failure, in all sense of the word. His time was passed over like Glo-worms and Cross Colours t-shirts. He tries to maintain his wrestler status, but even that is taken away. It’s a depressing story about accepting change in your life when you never wanted change in your life.

In the scene above, Randy meets with Stephanie at the boardwalk. They are trying to repair their horrible relationship, but Stephanie isn’t buying it. Not until Randy comes clean and is completely honest with himself and his daughter, does she really accept his new station in life.

“I’m an old broke-down piece of meat. And I’m alone.”

Often times, in life, we find our self at the crossroads of what we should have done verse what actually happened and having chosen the latter, it lead us down a darker path. We don’t want to die alone. We don’t want to be alone. But, that’s exactly what Randy the Ram is: alone.

He realized, once wrestling was completed, he had no one.

The parallel between Randy and Rourke are infinite. Both have been lone souls in a cruel world. But, in the end, Randy/Rourke talk about the people in the audience still believing in them. And that’s why they showed up to the rink that night.

Believing in people.

It’s the belief that when you’re out and alone, there are the chosen few who will always be there for you. And those chosen few will help others remember how great you are in this world.

That’s Randy. That’s Rourke.

The Wrestler was nominated for two Academy Awards including Best Actor and Best Actress. It revived Mickey Rourke’s career and gave us a tequila-inspired lap dance by Ms. Tomei.

We see this film not for the performance, but for remembrance.

Thank for Mr. Rourke, for helping us remember.