I’ve seen two wrestling movies in my life and both were excellent. Mickey Rourke won a Best Actor Oscar for his performance in The Wrestler and it was a film which was my favorite movie the year it was released.
Last week–I watched the ESPN 30/30 film Nature Boy and it floored me. I know nothing per se about pro wrestling, but the movie featured the life of Ric Flair whom many consider to be the pioneer of professional wrestling. The film is a wonderful biography of his life.
It’s a beautifully done film which gives the viewer an insight into the life of Ric Flair the Nature Boy.
There are parts of the film which are tough in regards to the death of Flair’s son Reid, but through it all Flair is a very interesting dude to listen to as he chronicles his life through the course of the film.
Like I said, I’m not a pro wrestling fan, but from the opening of this film, I found myself not being able to not like Ric Flair. I grew up in a family in a constant wave of dysfunction—so maybe that was a large part of it. But as the movie moved along, his story fascinated me and in the end touched me. And in the end, that’s what as a reader or a viewer you want a story to do to you internally.
So… I now understand the whole Ric Flair story and I find myself flexing and doing wrestling poses at the diva lab Pauli while shouting…”I’m Nature Boy and you don’t want any part of me…..Woooo!” Of course, Pauli looks at me and gives me this WTF sigh expression which says…’Please, Mike, this isn’t in our arrangement’.
But still, I can see why it was so fun being the Nature Boy.
If you get the chance, be sure and watch the film.