From The Iron Claw to Opponent: How wrestling films began grappling with real issues

For decades, boxing movies have punched above their weight. Think of the rawness of Raging Bull or the modern, muscular Creed franchise. All the preparation and pageantry that goes into being a prizefighter seems to lend itself to the big screen, offering visual spectacle, clearly defined emotional stakes and character conflict made very literal. Perhaps that’s why acting heavyweights like Robert De Niro, Russell Crowe and Daniel Day-Lewis have all embodied pugilists in the cinematic ring. 

What if you prefer Big Daddy splashes and Boston crabs to left hooks and straight jabs? The historical dominance of boxing movies means that films about wrestling are rarely viewed as serious contenders. Put aside Mickey Rourke’s meaty 2008 comeback vehicle The Wrestler and they trend towards comedy, like Jack Black’s Mexican luchador fable Nacho Libre or fun WWE underdog tale Fighting with My Family. 

But the past six months has seen a cluster of three wrestling-themed films that are surprising, artful and moving. Perhaps the most thought-provoking is Opponent, arriving in UK cinemas next week. It is about as far from the spandex circus of WWE as you can get, following an Iranian couple and their two young daughters in snowy Scandinavia. They fled Iran because head of the family Iman (Payman Maadi) – a veteran Greco-Roman wrestler with Olympic experience – found himself targeted by the police. 

Holed up in a cramped refugee centre near the Swedish-Finnish border, the family try and navigate the immigration system. Perhaps it would help their asylum appeal if Iman tried out for the Swedish national wrestling team? But the sweaty, straining intimacies of the sport are what got him into trouble in the first place.  

Powered by Maadi’s stoic but multi-layered performance, Opponent is a powerful immigration drama that alternates between harsh realism and something more dreamlike while slowly constricting its grip like a python. The result is suitably dizzying. 

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There is a little more razzamatazz in The Iron Claw, based on the true story of a Texan wrestling dynasty – notably hunky young brothers Zac Efron, Harris Dickinson and The Bear’s Jeremy Allen White – as their tough-as-boots father Fritz Von Erich (Holt McCallany) pushes them towards the world championship belt that eluded him during his own career. 

In the gauzy, sun-kissed early scenes, the 1980s fashion and classic rock needle drops suggest a woozy retro ride full of theatrical in-ring action. It also usefully front-loads a discussion about the “fakeness” of pro wrestling (in short: the result may be predetermined but convincingly selling a match to a fired-up audience requires strength, skill and charisma… that’s the real achievement).  

After these spirited opening feints, The Iron Claw slowly reveals itself to be a Greek tragedy in spandex as the close-knit Von Erich clan endures a series of emotional body blows. Squint and it could be a horror film (it oddly made me think of Final Destination), one that makes this supposedly fake sport feel brutally real. Kind of a bummer, then, but a film full of catharsis. 

Equally 1980s and just as theatrical, if a little more downtrodden, is Cassandro, a biopic of the eponymous luchador who turned Mexican wrestling upside down. Saúl Armendáriz – in the boyish form of Gael García Bernal – is a wrestling runt from El Paso who commutes to Juarez to get kicked around in rowdy lucha libre matches. 

Once Saul ditches his mask and embraces the role of an exótico – dragged-up wrestlers who traditionally play campy baddies – his winking charisma as Cassandro is so powerful that he is able to win over the homophobic crowds. 

His road to fame, fortune and acceptance has plenty of pitfalls but Bernal is so charming – whether pursuing fleshly delights on a hedonistic bender or hunched over his mother’s sewing machine – that tracing Cassandro’s career path is both thrilling and gratifying. 

These are independent films that are all worth seeking out, especially as the current bumper crop of wrestlers who have evolved into major Hollywood stars – like Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, John Cena and Dave Bautista – appear to have zero interest in headlining a big flashy wrestling blockbuster or awards-baiting prestige picture that would play to their grappling hinterland. 

But remaining offbeat and a little under the radar suits this particular cinematic sub-genre. If boxing movies risk being formulaic and over-familiar, wrestling flicks can be much harder to pin down – and that can only be a good thing. 

Opponent is in cinemas from 12 April; The Iron Claw is available to rent or buy on digital platforms; Cassandro is available to stream on Prime Video. Graeme Virtue is a film and TV critic.

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