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Mickey Rourke stars as The Ram in The Wrestler |
Mickey Rourke the wrestler grabs his opportunity
THE WRESTLER
Darren Aronosky
Certificate 15
THE Ram was once a draw in the world of American wrestling: his bout with his main foe, The Ayatollah, is stuff of legends.
But now, 20 years after 1.5 million wrestling fans tuned in on pay per view to see him perform his “Ram jam slam” on the Middle Eastern baddie, he’s an ageing fighter, playing out the twilight of his ring career in fleapit community centres and sports halls in bleakest New Jersey.
This is the background to a moving, enthralling and unlikely tale with the lead played incredibly by the one-time boxer turned actor, Mickey Rourke.
The Wrestler tells the story of Randy The Ram Robinson and uses the decline of an athlete – albeit a man whose used steroids to build his muscles up – to consider mortality.
Starring Rourke, it is interesting to consider the parallels between the actor and his on-screen persona. The Ram has kept himself going by tipping a large variety of drugs down his throat, from muscle-bulkers to painkillers – and when he suffers a near-fatal heart attack, his doctor says he must knock them on the head, and his wrestling too, if he wants to live.
Rourke’s acting career took a famous nosedive: he was bedraggled by drink and drugs. His performance as Randy The Ram is superb, and it looks like he instinctively knows where this once-respected performer is coming from.
After a by-pass operation, The Ram is suddenly aware of his own mortality, and how lonely he is. Despite his fame, and the companionship he gets from other wrestlers, his daughter hates him. Redemption comes in the shape of an ageing stripper he falls for, who feels she is in the same position as he is – two trades that rely on physique, and whose working days are fading as the body slips into old age.
Director Darren Aronofsky has a great eye for simple markers to bring forward the story and set the scene. The wrestlers’ pre-match preening is displayed in all its sordid glory. The Ram does his highlights, shaves under his arms, lies under a sunbed before facing his public. It is a strange mix of macho posing and feminine preparation.
And then there are some marvellous backdrops that show the meagre existence our hero is leading.
He organises his shows from a urine-stained phonebox, set next to a moody, semi-derelict tunnel. He lives in a rotten trailer park, where he can’t afford his rent and is often locked out by the manager, leaving him to sleep in the back of his van.
To add to his woes, he is reminded of his once-colossal reputation by the little children who still find him impressive. He asks one of the kids in the trailer park if he wants to play Nintendo. They play a wrestling game, featuring The Ram versus The Ayatollah. It’s rubbish, with blocky effects, dating from the 1980s and the boy lets poor Randy know that this is so. It’s just another stinging reminder of his decline.
One terrific scene has him dancing with his estranged daughter after he persuades her to visit a place he took her to when she was a toddler. He remembers the times with affection, while she admits she can’t recall it. Still, they eventually break into an empty ballroom and perform a shuffling waltz. The once- grand room mimics his own fall from grace. His is a defunct vaudeville act, like those once hosted at this wind-bitten seaside attraction. |
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