Take Hart

Hot Docs screens the classic tragedy of a modern hero

HITMAN HART: WRESTLING WITH SHADOWS

****

Directed by Paul Jay. Saturday, May 8, 1pm. Royal Cinema, 608 College. $5. 203-2155.

BY JASON ANDERSON

Paul Jay thought he was making a little doc. With support from the NFB and other public agencies, he set out to develop a movie about the modern morality play that is pro wrestling. Until recently, it was a place where good could still valiantly triumph over evil. And the ultimate good guy was Bret "The Hitman" Hart, a longtime champion in impresario Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation and a son of Stu Hart, the legendary Calgarian wrestler/promoter whose eight sons all became wrestlers and four daughters all married wrestlers.

Bret and the Harts were a great subject for a Canadian documentary filmmaker, and it didn't hurt that Bret, besides being a thoughtful guy, is also one of the most famous Canadians on the planet. What Jay couldn't know when he and his crew started following Bret with a camera in 1997, was that Bret's career -- and the whole "sports entertainment" business -- would go haywire.

The WWF was getting beaten in the ratings by Ted Turner's rival WCW, who attempted to lure Bret away with a hefty contract. But Bret stayed loyal to McMahon, even though the WWF was turning sleazy and fans were cheering loudest for the bad guys. Even Bret went "heel," blasting his disloyal American fans and prompting a Canada-America rivalry (and, eventually, the sight of Bret's nemesis Shawn Michaels humping our beloved flag in the ring).

When Bret decided to leave the WWF after McMahon told him he couldn't honor their new contract, McMahon orchestrated what's now known as "the biggest double cross in wrestling history" -- a humiliating defeat for Bret by Michaels on Canadian turf in Montreal. And Jay's little film turned out to be one of the most riveting and highly acclaimed Canadian films in years.

"The film was charmed right from the beginning," says Jay in his Toronto office, where he produces Newsworld's counterSpin. "We'd go out and film him for a few weeks, then go away, and every time we came back, something would happen."

Though the film goes behind the scenes in the wrestling business, Jay never meant it to be simply an exposé: "My view was that if you need this film to tell you that wrestling is fake, you need more help than this film can give you."

Jay decided to construct Hitman Hart: Wrestling With Shadows in a dramatic fashion that was copacetic with the way wrestling blurs the line between fantasy and reality. The resulting movie is wildly entertaining and surprisingly thought-provoking. When it first aired on A&E in the U.S. and TVO in Ontario in November, the reviews were ecstatic, leading to a well-received screening at the Slamdance fest, an imminent, high-profile American video release and a deal for Jay to develop it into a feature. The film's appearance at Hot Docs, its first theatrical showing in Toronto, is especially sweet for Jay -- he was the fest's founding chair.

At the heart of Hitman Hart is a clash of morals between McMahon and Bret, who sincerely believes in "the art form of wrestling" and the values of his Hitman character. "For me," says Jay, "what made the film so satisfying in the end was when this battle between Vince and Bret became a battle of two ways of looking at the world. Vince essentially looks at the world as, 'What's good for my business is good; what's bad for my business is bad.' That's his morality: money is good. Bret made some choices that weren't just about money. The WCW offered him a lot more dough and he stays with McMahon, partly out of loyalty, partly out of belief in the character. You can go two ways on Bret on that: is he believing too much in the character?"

HART-STOPPING ACTION

Talking from his Calgary home, where he's recuperating from a groin injury, Bret Hart sounds pretty dejected. Frustrated with the WCW's lacklustre treatment of him, he quit the league. Says Hart with a chuckle, "It's one of those borderline things where people aren't sure if it was for real or not, including me."

Hart is philosophical about his role in wrestling nowadays: "The one thing that I've learned -- and I'm not sure this is a good thing yet -- is to not take it so seriously. I took it so seriously that I punched out my boss [McMahon] on my last day of work and stormed out. I realized I took way too much pride in being a hero and in so many people believing in me."

But trying to let go of his principles and be happy being a bad guy in the WCW hasn't worked out either, as it's so obviously contrary to the nature of the guy seen in Hitman Hart. Bret is a classic wrestling hero in a business that suddenly has little use for wrestling or heroes. Though the WWF and WCW shows are getting their biggest ratings ever, Bret feels their anarchic array of bimbos, sadists and freaks is inappropriate for wrestling's real audience (and his fan base): kids.

"I saw the WWF show here in Calgary last night," says Hart, "and they had tons of kids at the show. The audience for wrestling here hasn't changed at all -- it's the same wrestling crowd who were there cheering me on. Then you look at the content, and I was just scratching my head, wondering if they realize how much it's changed. Wrestling used to sell wrestling. I don't know that that's the case any more."

Says Hart, "If wrestling keeps going in the direction that it's going, then pretty soon they don't need the ring."

Bret Hart will attend the May 8 screening of Hitman Hart: Wrestling With Shadows. The video can be ordered from High Road Productions at 1-800-900-6952 or <www.brethartvideo.com>.