ANDRE THE GIANT (2018)

4/11/18 - Andre the Giant (2018) - 5+/10

The tall tale of a man who made his way in a truly larger-than-life field, but still stood a foot taller than all. Some interesting insight into hints of his emotions and thoughts, but even those must be deciphered and sifted through to gain any real purchase on the facts. He lived and passed on, forever in a world where character, thoughts, and reality are fictions that one uses to sell what they want to be seen. It is tough to get to the heart of the man, which, in a kayfabe (the portrayal of staged events as “real”) world, Andre was truly a giant.

The documentary excelled at giving a sense of a growing young man that was working with what he had. But once it got deeper into the history/world/characters of wrestling, Andre was a bit lost in that shiny and sweaty maelstrom. So few intimate psychological portraits were captured and so few people seemed to really know the “real” Andre. Also, the wrestling angles felt disingenuous and too kayfabe-y. Putting on a show, when I wanted the unworked truth. The actuality was indecipherable from what the performers wanted us to know, as in this case, the winners/survivors write the history.

Solid and easy to watch, but the intricacies I wanted to know about the man never really shown through. The ecosystem of the biz and the ripples Andre made were the real star.