Photo from McClatchy Tribune

“The Wrestlerâ€Â is not for the faint-hearted. More than just a behind-the-scenes look into the world of professional wrestling, it goes above and beyond the call of duty.

We first see Randy “The Ramâ€Â Robinson (Mickey Rourke in an Oscar-nominated and Golden Globe-winning performance) alone in a locker room, cooling down after a match.

With a bad bleach job and weather-beaten face, he is almost too painful to watch, facing down the end of a celebrated twenty-year wrestling career.

The matches (one in particular involving shattered glass and a staple gun) are hard to watch, violent beyond any WWE Smackdown, as Randy pummels his way to victory again and again.

But after a heart attack sidelines him indefinitely, “The Ramâ€Â is forced to take a step back and examine the life he’s been living.

He finds solace in the friendship of a stripper named Pam, aka “Cassidyâ€Â (Marisa Tomei, also an Oscar nominee), which spurs him on to reconnect with his estranged daughter Stephanie (Evan Rachel Wood).

There are tender moments in this often brutal film, when Randy waltzes his daughter across an empty ballroom, or leans in to give Pam a kiss.

But like a hero in a Greek tragedy, “The Ramâ€Â seems destined to fall; he just cannot shake that yearning for the glory of former days.

Throwaway sex, drugs and rejection by the women he loves are what ultimately lead Randy to his final bout in the ring, sealing his fate even as he goes out on top.

Early on in “The Wrestler,â€Â Pam jokingly compares Randy to Jesus in “The Passion of the Christ,â€Â hitting the nail on the head.

Both willingly hurl themselves from the frying pan into the fire, destroying their bodies in exchange for one last shot at glory.