By Roberto Barreto
At the end of 2023, it will premiere in the United States 'Iron Claw' ('The Iron Claw'), directed and written by Sean Durkin. Although she appeared on the big screen shortly before the 2024 Oscars, she still could have been nominated. However, the Academy and the other associations that reward the best of cinema in the season chose to simply ignore it.
After seeing it last week—when it had just arrived in Lima—I believe that it should have been given the opportunity to appear at the awards, because the film has an enveloping narrative, in addition to great performances that manage to move you and ask 'destiny' for a truce so that no one dies in the film.
In this article, I will seek to explain the successes (and also failures) of this drama set in the decades when entertainment wrestling became a global phenomenon (the 70s and 80s). As you can imagine, this article contains many spoilers. They are warned.
The history from 'Iron Claw'
The film tells the story of the Von Erichs, a family dedicated 24/7 to wrestling. The patriarch, Fritz Von Erich, is a retired wrestler who became famous for his particular move (the iron claw, as the film is called in English). By not achieving his ultimate goal, which was to be the main champion of a renowned company, he entrusts the task to all of his children (all boys).
Her children love the industry, but how do they know that 'thanks to her' they would fall into a curse in which all of them end up dying young, except for the main character, Kevin Von Erich, played by an unrecognizable Zac Efron for many due to his physical change.
That curse begins when the first-born of the children dies as a child in an accident. The rest either commit suicide – in some cases due to addiction to narcotics – or become ill. Efron's character is devastated by the loss of his relatives, whom he always liked to hang out with and whom he loved, and he is afraid that he or his children are also part of that 'conjuration'.
Below are the successes of the film in question:
The narrative and performances in 'Iron Claw'
This pairing allows the viewer to quickly identify with the Von Erich brothers. These are not only strong brothers who form a fighting group to compete in a ring, but also men who when they get together at home are complicit and fun. There is natural jealousy over the professional success of those who take advantage, but loyalty and brotherhood are above that.
That is why each death is a key of submission in the skull of the spectators. It hurts to see that Kevin Von Erich (Zac Efron) is left alone.
But the aforementioned binomial also presents a marked antagonism in the father whose obsession with his children obtaining the maximum prize makes him selfish and indolent, and does not allow him to measure the damage he caused them by demanding glory from them. That's right, I think you already realized that the real 'curse' was the father.
Near the end of the film, when his last brother alive (Kerry) commits suicide, we see that Kevin Von Erich unleashes all that fury that he had been accumulating against his father for years and scolds him and squeezes his neck, blaming him for the misfortune that the family had suffered. Some time before, his wife had also told him that the culprit of everything was his father; This also fueled Kevin's rage. That is to say, we see a gradual but coherent character transformation in the face of such tragic events.
The end of the film gives us 2 moving scenes. The previously deceased Von Erich brothers wait in the 'other world' for Kerry's arrival and hug him, there is even his older brother, the one who died as a child. A scene that infects you with that desire to have the opportunity to meet your loved ones after the end of your days.
And the other is the one in which Kevin Von Erich's children (very well played by Efron, needless to say) appear lifting their father off the grass, who is crying in front of them for the death of his brothers. His children tell him that they can be like his brothers that he has lost and they end up playing ball. In other circumstances it could be considered a cliché or melodramatic scene, but the film takes you to such dark passages that you couldn't suffer more, so it is a success.
The mistakes of 'The Iron Claw'
Although I highlighted how appropriate the narrative of 'Iron Claw'there are some weak details to take into account: the presence of so many characters doing the same thing (fighting) does not allow you to fully land on each of their stories.
Neither the main character nor the supporting characters have the opportunity in the film to share their success in the ring with the viewer. The film is full of fight scenes, of course, and the NWA world title belt appears at stake, but it is not enough, since the path they had to go through—suffering—to be in the big leagues is not shown. suspenders; It is only understood that the brothers entered the world of fighting thanks to their father and that along the way they found success and that was it.
A clear case is that of Kerry, who was not dedicated to wrestling, but when he cannot go to the Olympics to participate in the sport he practices, he enters wrestling and scenes later he is already a world champion. The fast pace can be a drawback.
On the other hand, although comparisons are sometimes unnecessary, it is inevitable to remember that in 2008 the feature film 'The Wrestler' was released, with Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei. That film was nominated for the Oscars, the Golden Globes and the Bafta.
I think it's a few steps higher than 'Iron Claw' because the character development is even more marked than that of Efron, and Mickey Rourke does not share flashes with anyone in the film, so we more explicitly see a single character going into the abyss, but accompanied by what he was always passionate about : Wrestling.
Finally, as a decades-long follower of wrestling, I will always be happy when cinema addresses the good and bad of the industry, so, if a feature film with that theme comes out again, maybe you will read me here again.
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