Beyond the Mat

Beyond the Mat Ringside Special Edition - Unrated Director's Cut DVD

Filmmaker Barry W. Blaustein takes a look at the professional wrestling game at every level from the hopeful perhaps deluded beginners who spend their money on wrestling schools to the lower levels of the profession to the pinnacle of wrestling success: national fame in the WWF. Particularly fascinating are Blaustein's examinations of Jake "The Snake" Roberts and Mick "Mankind" Foley. Roberts was once a superstar in the WWF but evidently drugs and alcohol destroyed his career and left him a broken and bitter man wrestling on the outer reaches of the pro circuit. In a poignant scene Blaustein captures a painful reunion between Roberts and his adult daughter. Foley on the other hand is a tremendous success in the WWF and a devoted husband and father. But the violence of his profession still threatens to tear his family apart. Blaustein makes no bones about his perspective in making his film. He's a wrestling fan. That said the film offers an honest view of the outrageous and controversial world of professional wrestling. Though the outcomes of matches are usually predetermined making it a different kind of sport pro wrestling is certainly a demanding and brutal way of life.

Beyond the Mat - Special Edition (Unrated) [VHS]

At first, this behind-the-scenes documentary about professional wrestling seems as if it will be an unabashed fan's whitewash of the increasingly bizarre and popular world of "sports entertainment," as it is known. But director Barry Blaustein (a Saturday Night Live veteran who has cowritten many of Eddie Murphy's films) goes much deeper than you'd expect in a film that is at once entertaining and disturbing. By focusing on a trio of wrestlers who give him surprising access, Blaustein uncovers human stories that can be wrenching in their stark honesty. That's particularly true of one-time superstar Jake "the Snake" Roberts, whose career has fallen on hard times because of a crack habit; Roberts brings Blaustein along for his first encounter in several years with his grown, estranged daughter. Blaustein also goes into the lives of Terry Funk and Mick "Mankind" Foley in ways that are both revealing and, at times, upsetting. More than just a fan's appreciation, this is that rare documentary that shows you sides of a familiar subject you never knew existed. --Marshall Fine