Beyond the Mat

The documentary looks behind professional wrestling. It follows three men. Mick Foley is at the height of his career; he performs stunts that sacrifice his body while his children watch from the crowd. Terry Funk is past fifty; his knees are finished, the doctor tells him to stop, and he does one more farewell match every year. Jake Roberts was among the best known names of the eighties; now he works small halls, uses drugs and does not see his daughter. The camera follows all three as far as the dressing room. Barry W. Blaustein directs. It is an American production. Blaustein was a screenwriter and this is his first film as director; he says in the documentary that he has watched wrestling since childhood. The matter it treats is the distance between the performance and the life; the result of a match is settled in advance but the damage to the body is real. His family's reaction after one of Foley's matches is the most cited section and has often been quoted since. The owner of the large wrestling company speaks in the film; the company later withdrew its support and would not allow it to be promoted. The narrative shows directly that wrestlers have no health cover and no pension arrangement. The documentary caused argument in the wrestling world on release. Its limit is scope; focusing on three men, it does not fully enter the structure of the business. Who it is for: anyone curious about sports documentary and the history of wrestling. Who it is not for: some scenes are hard to bear, the subject heavy, and the narrative sad.