There are two kinds of people who will watch this film.
Those who know.
And those who don’t know.
Those who know already know what this 70 minute film is going to present them and will probably want to skip it because it’s not going to present anything new regarding the independent wrestling scene.
Those who don’t know will find this to be an informative look at what its like to be a wrestler living day to day, lucha or not. That professional wrestling is a labor of love and that when these men aren’t being beaten in the head with the occasional chairshot or launching themselves to the outside over the top rope, they are our barbers and teachers. To that extent, the film does a decent job of educating the average wrestling fan just what it is a professional wrestler must do in order to make it out to the ring in front of the fans.
The overall flavor of this DVD leans towards the Lucha Libre style of professional wrestling, as you can tell from the title of the documentary, but the overall lessons of this film could be applied to all divisions of professional wrestling. In fact that’s the greatest strength of this documentary. “Lucha Libre: Life Behind The Mask” really humanizes the performers and makes you understand just what these guys go through without making you feel guilty for watching them do what they love to do ala “Beyond The Mat.”
The story of the DVD revolves around Dinamic, an aging Lucha Libre wrestler who in his younger days accidentally ran out in haste to the ring without his mask. Dinamic, now a promoter, a barber, and still a professional wrestler, gears up his one final run (think Ric Flair) in his promotion, leading up to a hair versus mask match at the end of the film. There are a number of other wrestlers who are interviewed and showcased in the story, but the heart of the “Lucha Libre: Life Behind the Mask” is Dinamic.
The key problems with this film lie in the pacing of the piece. A lot of the time it becomes obvious that Director Rich Walton didn’t have enough material to reach his desired (and possibly contracted) running time of an hour and ten minutes and placed scenes in the film to help push towards that goal. These said scenes however add very little and only serve to make viewers react with the occasional yawn.
The documentary was clearly made on the cheap as it’s filmed in the obsolete 4×3 video aspect ratio and the music is about as generic as something you’d hear on the Impact Zone. Nevertheless, if you know a wrestling fan who wishes to learn a little more about the professional wrestling industry, this piece of film is a good learning tool for them. However, if you’re a hardcore wrestling fan who knows just exactly what these guys have to do to get to the arena and how little they get paid to do what they do, then you’ll probably want to skip this.
“Lucha Libre: Life Behind the Mask” can be picked up from CDUniverse.com for $9.84.
