Although "Wrestling with Shadows" began as documentary about the life of World Wrestling Federation (now World Wrestling Entertainment) wrestler in the mid-1990s, it ended a film about so much more. The timing of the film was odd yet in hindsight historically impeccable - in 1997, the WWF was at a low popularity-wise and losing money and fans to Ted Turner's competing World Championship Wrestling promotion. With Bret Hart being encouraged by Vince McMahon to leave the WWF for the better of both Hart and the WWF, the documentary initially becomes the story about a man in transition.
After the Montreal incident, the documentary switches gears to show Bret Hart as a man in limbo - unsure of how to react to the worst exit he could have possibly made from the WWF and hitting a wall both personally and professionally. Before and after this point in the film, the whole tone of the piece is decidedly somber, showing the gritty inner workings of the eternally running machine of a professional wrestling promotion and the sacrifice a pro wrestler on the road must make for himself and his family. The movie's legacy remains the statement it makes not about Hart himself, but about the rise of the World Wrestling Federation after Hart's departure.
Though Hart's departure was not completely responsible for the WWF's resurgence in popularity in the late 1990s, it did set in motion a chain reaction of events that spurred it. Almost prophetically, little hints of the WWF's rise are interspersed throughout the film. We see Steve Austin, Vince Russo, Shawn Michaels and Vince McMahon, all key players in taking the WWF to new heights in popularity after Hart left. At the end of the film, we get the feeling that the events transpired had set into motion something new. As is turns out, those things didn't just happen to Bret Hart, they happened to the entire professional wrestling world.
After the Montreal incident, the documentary switches gears to show Bret Hart as a man in limbo - unsure of how to react to the worst exit he could have possibly made from the WWF and hitting a wall both personally and professionally. Before and after this point in the film, the whole tone of the piece is decidedly somber, showing the gritty inner workings of the eternally running machine of a professional wrestling promotion and the sacrifice a pro wrestler on the road must make for himself and his family. The movie's legacy remains the statement it makes not about Hart himself, but about the rise of the World Wrestling Federation after Hart's departure.
Though Hart's departure was not completely responsible for the WWF's resurgence in popularity in the late 1990s, it did set in motion a chain reaction of events that spurred it. Almost prophetically, little hints of the WWF's rise are interspersed throughout the film. We see Steve Austin, Vince Russo, Shawn Michaels and Vince McMahon, all key players in taking the WWF to new heights in popularity after Hart left. At the end of the film, we get the feeling that the events transpired had set into motion something new. As is turns out, those things didn't just happen to Bret Hart, they happened to the entire professional wrestling world.