Iran Accuses “The Wrestler” of Being Hollywood Propaganda Film
via Telegraph UK
The country’s media has reportedly condemned the film in part because of a fight sequence in which Rourke’s character, Randy ‘the Ram’ Robinson, battles an opponent dubbed the Ayatollah.
During the fight, the Ayatollah, played by actor and former professional wrestler Ernest “the Cat” Miller, waves an Iranian flag before ramming the pole under his opponent’s neck. Rourke’s character then grabs the flag and snaps the pole over his knee before tossing it into the crowd.
Newspapers and websites in Iran say the Darren Aronofsky-directed film is just the latest manifestation of Western prejudice towards Iran in Hollywood films.
Last year, the Iranian government blasted Warner Bros over its “anti-Iranian” blockbuster 300, a graphic novel-based retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae, in which the Greeks triumph over the Persians.
It accused the Hollywood studio of participating in a campaign of “psychological warfare”, “plundering Iran’s historic past and insulting its civilization”, and depicting Persians as “ugly and violent creatures rather than human beings”.
Some Iranians also took offence at the sympathetic portrayal of Alexander the Great conquering the Persian empire in Oliver Stone’s Alexander.
In The Wrestler, Rourke plays a retired professional wrestler who returns for a final match against his old enemy, the Ayatollah. The film, which won the golden lion award at this year’s Venice film festival, is released in the US next week.
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