The Wrestler - T

Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler,” shows that, in both movies and wrestling, the line between reality and play-acting may be less clear than we assume. Shooting his battered hero mainly from behind, as if you were seeing the world through the wrestler’s eyes, makes a convincing show of brute realism. The supermarkets, trailer parks, V.F.W. halls and run-down amphitheaters of New Jersey are convincingly drab. But the story that emerges is disarmingly sweet, indeed at times downright saccharine — a familiar parable of squandered hopes and second chances.

Randy "The Ram" Robinson, played by Mickey Rourke, is anything but a phony. His real name, which he can’t stand to hear, is Robin Ramsinski; his muscles are puffed up with steroids, and it’s highly doubtful that his flowing mane is naturally blond. But this careful fakery is, to some extent, what certifies Randy as the real thing, an authentic, passionate, natural performer. The description fits Mr. Rourke as well.

Now, 20 years later, he — Randy, that is — has been relegated to shabbier halls. He has trouble making the rent on his trailer, and his health is failing. His professionalism, however, is undiminished, and the most moving and persuasive scenes in “The Wrestler” show the Ram backstage with the men who are his comrades and rivals, working out the finer points of their routines with a warmth and respect completely at odds with the viciousness they display in the ring. While the fights are choreographed, the pain and the blood are frequently real. We are privy to tricks of the trade, like the tiny bit of razor blade that Randy uses to open a cut on his face in the middle of a bout.

But Randy’s real problems are outside of the ring. He is estranged from his daughter, Stephanie, (Evan Rachel Wood), whose anger when he tries to reconcile suggests some major mess-ups in the past. He also has a crush on a stripper known as Cassidy (Ms. Tomei), whose lap dances and friendly chitchat he interprets as signs of reciprocated interest. Randy and Cassidy (it’s not her real name, either) are both performers, both expert at faking something the customers desperately want to believe is real. The wrestlers don’t really hate one another, and the stripper doesn’t really love you.

Wrestlers like “Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig, Jake “the Snake” Roberts, and Bam Bam Bigelow are all embodied in Randy “The Ram” Robinson. They were wrestlers whose better days are behind them, and wrestling doesn’t pay the bills anymore. For some of them, death came too soon. In this brillant movie about a guy who can’t let go because the outside doesn’t want him, Mickey Rourke may finally bring the one thing that professional wrestlers have longed to receive: Respect! This is a must see!