Inside the fight club

>> >> Beyond the Mat is an ace documentary about wrestling

by MATTHEW HAYS

If someone can make a movie about wrestling that I find fascinating, they must be doing something right. Despite all the seemingly endless hype about the "sport" of late, I must say I rarely bother to pay any attention to it.

But with his directorial debut, Beyond the Mat, Barry Blaustein has crafted an engaging, highly entertaining and bittersweet portrait. Focussing on several wrestlers, including The Rock, Mick Foley, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Terry Funk and Chyna, Blaustein takes his cameras behind the scenes to show us the wrestlers' family lives and personal dilemmas. Not surprisingly, there are laughs to be had; wrestlers are, of course, innately absurd figures. And then there's the sleaze factor, appearing here in epic proportions.

But surprises emerge when we see them navigate through their out-of-the-ring lives. Jake Roberts has a strained relationship with his adult daughter, who despises him for having been an absentee dad throughout her childhood. She quotes a Sylvia Plath poem about hatred for a patriarch, a pretty damning indictment of pops. In a brutal scene, he confesses to her that he had always swore that he would never end up being like his own father, but ultimately did anyway.

As for the idea that wrestling is entirely staged, the cuts, bruises and blood captured here will put many of those suspicions to rest. While some events are clearly rehearsed, these folks get hurt--on many occasions very, very badly indeed. There's a unique strain of child abuse depicted at one point. As one wrestler, Mick Foley (aka Mankind and Cactus Jack) takes brutal blows, being bludgeoned continually with a metal fold-up chair, his wife and young children look on in horror, eventually breaking down in tears. This is, by far, the film's most uncomfortable sequence.

In Blaustein's previous life, he was a writer and producer for Saturday Night Live. Clearly, his comprehension of what makes for bizarre, funny and surreal characters has paid off here. His footage is priceless, his editing keeps things moving along beautifully and his years spent accompanying this motley crew of athletes pays off. In the press notes, he drags out that old saw about truth being stranger than fiction (the motto that drives so many documentary filmmakers). But he's right, and Blaustein deserves a slew of awards for making this, a film that could easily have been dashed by a lazier filmmaker. This is recommended viewing, even for those of you whose eyes glaze over by the second syllable of the word "documentary." :

Beyond the Mat opens Friday, June 16