Review of The Wrestler (2008) by Zoldick — 13 Jan 2022

One of the most important thing in Darren Aronofsky movies is the focus in individual narratives and it perspectives about all the facts in stories. In Black Swan, the next director's work, for example, the viewer sees Nina, a ballet dance pressed by the importance of her next presentation and by her rivalry with Lily.

In 2010 movie, it's worked the psychological e sensorial of Nina about the environment when she is, influenced by mental torments, when the frontier between psychological and physical world is over. In The Wrestler, the relation between Randy "The Ram" and the environment is the most possible real, without supernatural or metaphysics elements and influences like in Black Swan, influences that bring this movie to horror/thriller genre.

The Wrestler is a real movie that talk about real emotions and stories thought real elements, and this detail is very important to understand the real definition of this movie. Randy "The Ram" is the typical figure of masculinity that use this to hide him fragile and weak side, contrasting with him Wrestler profession.

He is the denial of classic characters of American cinema like Rambo and Rocky who, in last century, were symbols of American force in world, in a context of cold war between American capitalism and soviet communism.

In this sense, Randy The Ram is the side of the American society doesn't showed to the world, representing the poor and miserable side of the country, something showed by the constants USA flag apparitions in many scenes in rings and in Randy's room.

Aronofsky already work with the other side of United States in Requiem For a Dream, talking about how the pharmaceutical industry moves American society, mainly a middle class with the minim of consume power.

In this case, the "other side" of American society is Randy Robinson out of rings, is the scene when the protagonist is coughing because of him health problems after an introduction showing him glory moments.

Aronofsky is a director who works with an extreme nihilism in him movies and The Wrestler is one of the most nihilist movies of the director because of the manner that Randy see all the things, problems and solutions and what the relation between this elements with him wrestler career.

Randy The Ram accept to continue him journey as wrestler even knowing about him health problems in heart, because he doesn't have any more in him life, no family, no daughter and no job. The nihilism is not anymore something negative similar to a existential crises, a negative perception about this philosophy.

Now, is the liberation of individue against fail values like family and job that constructed capitalism. The value of job is finish when Randy let him job as attendant in market, while the value of family is finish when the protagonist break ties with him daughter.

Then, the Randy decision in final frontier against Ayatollah is a nihilist revolt against these values. The Wrestler nihilism, even been only represented in the end, is an important element in all of movie since the violence of the second fight, before the time when Randy was in hospital, showed harshly and without a fix sense, until the manner that protagonist show him fighting wounds to Cassidy, like as it is a trophy.

Both scenes show how violence is present in professional wrestler life and how it is like something to fill the inner void, and because of the form that violence is showed that transform The Wrestler in a nihilist and harsh movie.

On the contrary of Trigun, mangá aserie, when the body wounds of Vash, The Stampede, are symbols to non-aggression of protagonist, in The Wrestler, the wounds is, justly, the affirmation and glamorization of violence, and who seen the mangá and Madhouse anime and Darren Aronofsky movie in 2008, know the difference between non-violence with piece, violence, nihilism and disbelief, when we compare Vash and Randy.

There are, basically, two proofs Randy The Ram could be a symbology of United States: the first is the fight against the anarchist punk, adversary who symboligies the revolt against order an system, and the second is the fight against Ayatollah, the symbology of Iran, one of the mainly politic enemies of United States.

Both adversaries that fight against Randy in movie are symbologies to something in opposite to American influence, the opposition to order and system of American neo-conservatism and the defense to a country minority in politic and economic of world.

The possibility that Randy The Ram is a symbology to United States is broken in the end of movie with the final nihilist decision of protagonist, when he leave any extern symbologies and transform to a human that decisions and opinions is about himself.