Beyond the Mat

There are people who think that wrestling is an ignoble sport. Wrestling is not sport, it is a spectacle, and it is no more ignoble to attend a wrestled performance of suffering than a performance of the sorrows of Arnolphe or Andromaque.
-- Roland Barthes

Friday, March 31, 2000
One year ago: The Matrix
Two years ago: One Day

I chatted with Jack several times today. He was trying to follow up with his older daughter's parole officer, to see what was likely to happen with her. It turned out that the Seattle police didn't pick her up -- I'm not sure if they tried. But Jack decided it would be best if he canceled the trip to his parents' place. Instead he'll come down to my place tomorrow and see if he'll run into her on the street, since he knows what neighborhood she's likely to be hanging out. This was a tough decision for him, I think! He was conflicted because he felt that he was disappointing his parents and his younger daughter (but maybe there will be another way to get her down there for her spring break). Plus, he really wanted to go! And his workplace isn't one where you can just take days off whenever you want -- vacation time must be scheduled.

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I decided that tonight was a good night to go to a movie, before trying to drive home across a clogged bridge. Beyond the Mat was playing at the Bella Bottega, and I've been wanting to see it.

There's been some bad press on Regal Cinemas lately. The biggest flaw I saw tonight -- they were understaffed on a Friday night, so that I gave up on my popcorn dinner after waiting impatiently (so unlike me!).

Beyond the Mat is a documentary about professional wrestling. Now, I'm distinctly not a wrestling fan. But I was riveted by the portraits of the people. Jake the Snake so messed up on drugs and unhappy, but I was worried about the snakes he took into the ring with him. Vince McMahon, the owner of the WWF, actually wrestles as a bad guy! We see him stripped to the waist after a match, having his scalp sewn up, but still stage-managing the evening's card. (Earlier he'd been feeding lines to the on-air announcer.)

I wasn't so excited by the film maker putting himself into the story in a first-person way, but maybe that was necessary for him to get the wrestlers to reveal themselves.

There were some gory bits, but I wasn't overcome by them. I really liked this movie! Recommended.