Professional wrestling is often associated with soap opera-esque storylines, fake violence, chiseled physiques, larger-than-life personalities, and lavish lifestyles. The Wrestler, by Darren Aronofsky, seeks to quell those stereotypes by putting audiences in the shoes of fictional wrestling legend Randy “The Ram” Robinson (Mickey Rourke), who must choose between his health, family, and hopeful girlfriend, or his career and passion as a wrestler.

Robinson, a former 80’s star who is now in the twilight of his career, wrestles small independent shows on the weekends and works at a supermarket on the weekdays to attempt to pay the bills. After a match in Elizabeth, N.J., a wrestling promoter confronts Robinson with the opportunity to relive his glory years, a rematch 20 years in the making with The Ayatollah, The Ram’s most “hated” rival.

Robinson agrees to the match, but after a hardcore wrestling match with real life independent wrestling hardcore icon The Necro Butcher, the Ram collapses from a heart attack in the locker room, putting the rematch and the Ram’s wrestling career in jeopardy.

Those not wanting to see a movie about wrestling need not to worry because The Wrestler surprisingly isn’t actually about wrestling – it’s about a man at the crossroads of his life. Does Robinson choose to grow up, put his wild lifestyle behind him, settle down with a girlfriend (Marisa Tomei), and try to mend the torn relationship between him and his daughter (Evan Rachel Wood), or does he choose to remain a professional wrestler, continuing his never-ending struggle to glory, fame and fortune?

This movie probably could have been made with many different dangerous occupations in place of professional wrestling – football player, firefighter, police officer, etc. – because the fact he is a wrestler is irrelevant. What is relevant is that we all make selfish choices in our lives, and those choices affect the ones who love us. The Wrestler brings this theme to the forefront, particularly through his broken relationship with his estranged daughter, whom he left when she was young to travel the world as a wrestler.

Rourke’s performance as Randy Robinson is a defining moment in Rourke’s career. Rourke, Aronofsky, and screenwriter Robert Siegel paint The Ram as a compassionate person underneath a violent figure; he is simply a man who is all alone in his life, grasping for any sorts of accolades his life can provide him. Wrestling is the only way he knows how to get people into his life, through meet-and-greets with fans at an American Legion, starry-eyed neighborhood kids whom the Ram tries to surround himself with, and of course the live audience whose cheers and chants for the Ram only fuel his love for the scripted sport. Rourke does a mesmerizing job in showing Robinsons’ love and desire for these small victories in his life.

There are many memorable scenes from the film, but possibly the one that will stand out for most audiences is the aforementioned scene with the Necro Butcher, for more than one reason. Aronofsky clearly wanted to shock audiences not familiar with certain aspects of independent wrestling, particularly the brutality of what some wrestlers endure their bodies to in a hardcore match.

The Ram and The Necro Butcher not only use the regular staples found in the mainstream anything-goes matches such as chairs, tables and ladders, but also actual staples via a staple gun, along with sheets of glass, tacks, and barbed wire – The Ram even uses an audience member’s prosthetic leg on a trashcan-covered Necro Butcher. What is so effective about the scene is how the match is relived in segments as the trainer in the locker room treats The Ram. When the trainer pulls a shard of glass out of The Ram’s back, the film switches back to the match to show how it got there, and the same happens with each tool of violence protruding from the wrestler. It’s shocking, it’s entertaining, and somehow it’s educational as this should be a real eye-opener to people unfamiliar with what may go on at a local rec center or bingo hall on a Saturday evening.

Aronofsky was born to make The Wrestler. He is a master of accentuating certain emotions, particularly the darker ones, as is evident in his masterpiece Requiem for a Dream. Like Requiem, The Wrestler is a character study involving an addiction and the choices derived from the addiction. While Requiem focuses on addictions to drugs, The Wrestler focuses on addictions to prestige and celebrity; The Ram simply can’t let go of his past because it really is all he knows, as is evident throughout not just the wrestling scenes, but more importantly through the allusions to wrestling during his everyday life.

An example of this is when The Ram walks through the stocking rooms of the supermarket and the imaginary roar of the crowd begins to build as he steps through the doorway leading to…the store deli. The Ram’s wrestling persona follows him throughout his life from which he can’t escape and is unwilling to escape. He was born as and always will be a wrestler.

There are many parallels that can be drawn between Requiem and The Wrestler. The overall tone of both movies is that of despair, but small glimpses of happiness can be found amidst the grit and grime of the subject matter. Even though much of the film tugs at the heart and tear ducts, it is hard not to smile throughout much of The Wrestler. Scenes of The Ram play-wrestling with neighborhood kids, throwing potato salad touchdown passes to customers while working at the supermarket, and ballroom dancing with his daughter in an abandoned building add to the likeability of the main character, as well as the emotions the audience feels when he faces the final results of his past actions.

There is a lot to like about The Wrestler for both fans and non-fans of professional wrestling. Wrestling aficionados will appreciate the realistic approach Aranofsky used in creating the wrestling matches (for which Rourke trained extensively) and the authentic wrestlers used in the film. Those who think professional wrestling is more of a circus act than a sport will still find a lot to like in the film because just as Rocky was more than a boxing movie, The Wrestler is more than a wrestling movie. Professional wrestling may be fake, but there is no more genuine character study than that of The Wrestler.