Warrior – Iron Claw: The American dream is over. Movie review

As true as a wrestling fantasy. Warrior – Iron Clawa sports and dramatic biography directed by the semi-anonymous Sean Durkin He arrived on the big screen to tell the general public who the Von Erich Family was, an American wrestling dynasty whose history is made up of lopsided portions of triumphs and tragedies. no Another American storyHowever, it is another article that shows how the United States is moving beyond its founding model: The American dream.

To play the role of the only Von Erich he still calls upon, Kevin Zac Efron is very muscular: It is its center of gravity the fighterThrough it we are introduced into the family and remain somehow protected from the “American” tendencies of the drama Produced by A24. The story of the Von Erichs family is indeed a complex and complicated one: Fritz von Erich (Holt McCallany) He was a wrestling champion in several local federations, but he was never able to beat NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Ambition that has been guiding his life, as seen recently in… King Richard – a winning familyis passed down from father to son and so five of the six Von Erichs became wrestlers (the eldest died in childhood).

It was Kevin who entered the ring with the most conviction, followed by David (Harris Dickinson), Kerry (An Jeremy Allen White became a new global sexy icon), briefly Mike (Stanley Simmons) and even Chris, the Von Erichs' youngest son who was cut entirely from the film. The law of large numbers was on their side, and in the end the successes that their father Fritz dreamed of arrived, however The burden of the curse always weighs heavily on the family: Bad things happen to the Von Erichs family, Kevin tells his young lover, played by Lily James, that it seems like just a legend but it becomes something more tangible.

It is included in the history of von Erichs He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009There are, in fact, ongoing tragedies: Inexplicable fatal accidents and diseases, but above all suicide. What initially bears the characteristics of a story that reflects the values ​​of the American dream soon turns into its own negation. The real clash doesn't happen in the ring, whose dynamics are only hinted at halfway between sport and performance (which is not a new problem). Gladiator), but it is very much about generations: Fritz von Erich lived by the idea that through work, courage and determination great results are possible, and that even his family must be the best of the best to counterbalance what seems in all respects a curse.

The American Dream is a concept that has been widely explored in the history of cinema: from Rabaa to ScarfacePassing through The pursuit of happiness Or the latest injury (Determined by Goffredo Fovi «A tale for right-wing idiots» (Specifically to underscore the insistence of the proposed model), the fascination that will is power and that power is will is ingrained in the social fabric of Stars and Stripes, but above all, new generations of filmmakers are working hard to bring it to the big screen. Overcome this modelwhich is what was really highlighted Contradictions and distortions.

Movies like Oil man or first manFor example, they distanced themselves from the American dream How fine are the boundaries between ambition and obsession. Zac Efron's Kevin von Erich knows this all too well, as he immediately questions his father's educational methods and often seems reluctant to follow the dream that was imposed on him. So it seems that the Von Erichs curse is due as much to the sad fate and damage they have caused themselves, especially their father. Iron claw It's just not there Signature step Of von Erichs, but also The fist held by the father of the familyA fist to the head does not allow for another kind of thinking, another kind of idealism – the tragic story of young Mike is symbolic in this sense.

the fighter Often Simplified approach – or rather vitriolic – for the reasons behind it To the tragedies of the charactersBut it has the advantage of being fully compatible with a new cultural horizon: the American dream is no longer as radiant as it once was, and the sacrifices necessary to obtain certain results are constantly being called into question in the interests of reason and rationality. A less toxic approach to one's ambitionsThis is thanks to the fact that other global topics and phenomena (economic, environmental, health crises) increasingly force new generations to deal with them. Society, not personal needsto promote other types of well-being compared to ego-related well-being.

The drama may be imperfect in its presentation, but it succeeds in conveying the idea that true fantasy is not so much that of the arena, but rather that insistently enacted by the father at home, where children are pushed to compete, in order always to overcome one's own limits, to restrain one's own emotions. All things that now seem to belong to an old emotional world, to an outdated approach to life and to general disillusionment. «That's why they call it the American dream – He said George Carlin – Why You have to be asleep to believe it“It now seems that many people are more vigilant than ever before.

Image: A24

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