...oh, how this viewer misses the good ol' days of professional wrestling...those gritty, sweaty renaissance days of yore...say, about the late '50's, to the mid-to-late '70's, when the action spoke louder than the words...even louder than the often aggressively confident, sometimes boisterously arrogant fighters...back in the days when it was much more about the fight, than about outrageously colorful and self-heralding extrovert, the 'product'...or rather, the fighter, presented himself. OK, admittedly, even the awesome and spectacular fights back in the day, were carefully choreographed...indeed, the fighters truly knew how to put on a show...it was hardly as 'fake', as some naysayers might suggest. And some righteous body slams...the sound, unlike that of raw meat being pummeled and slapped onto the taut canvas...and heck, even some respectable bloodshed, definitely made things much more grueling, and well, much more 'realistic'. In the advent of the almost ridiculous, clown-like personalities, wrought from the '80's, as well as the introduction of the respectable Ultimate Fighting Championship, in the '90's, the professional wrestling venue's spectacle seems to have become more about the flash, than the fight...
...that balance between the sport and the show...looking at professional wrestling in a much more artistic meld, rather than the low-brow and commercial stigma, which it has since been pigeon-holed into...fighters, who are less 'showboat', and more 'hungry'...yes, that's also what fight promoter Steve Scarborough (...aka Steve Platinum, in labeling his proposed wrestling championship brand, the Platinum Champion Wrestling) remembers, back in that exciting time. And if he has anything to say about it, he would see that...to quote a medieval term...'fair time' come to pass, once again. His vision...his dream...his journey is the subject of intrigue, turmoil and measurable triumph, in the documentive study herein, called "The Booker"...
...the journey itself starts off in 2008...a rickety old theater storage room, in Atlanta, Georgia, which Steve would use to build and establish a school of wrestling, which reflects his vision and ideals on what the sport should me, and what it has meant to him. From here, personal insight and reflections of Steve's past...his upbringing...his eventual embrace of the sport, which his parents, though supportive, seemed adamantly against...from Hawaii, to Japan, and then, the mainland States, Steve made keen observance of the wrestling venue...especially, the practice of carefully choreographed moves and holds, meant to exude a sense of gruelling realism and combat into an exhibition, and yet, the presentation of which was basically and underliningly, a subtle form of acting...
...it would be this keen and reciprocative balance, which Steve...clearly intent upon seeing growth, as the result of his teachings...would try to impart upon his students...sometime quite harshly and brazenly critical, which in the end, would clearly harden and impact his eager, enthusiastic and inspired learners. With hopes of eventually cutting a deal, for development of a weekly televised venue, Steve and his entourage would move from one local, audience-filled venue to another...often well-received, though sometimes, angrily criticized by the wrestling fans, as the result of lackluster performance, at which time, Steve would step into the 'behind-the-scenes', and set his students straight, in his own imitable fashion...
...all of this hard work...overwhelming stress...criticism...sacrifice...financial stumbles...traveling from one venue location to another...would eventually and elatingly pay off, some three years later, in a high-profile event called 'Scared Ground', located in Atlanta's Kennesaw University...a prestigious sports event which, at the time, drew massive attendance, and uplifted the Platinum Champion Wresting venue to a most noteworthy respectability. In the end, there is actually no end, as "The Booker" finds it's best intrigue in telling it's story about the journey, rather than the goal...a goal which, once again, if Steve Platinum, a most dynamic personality and venerable presence in the wrestling venue, has anything to say about it...will come to pass. An indomitable force, such as this...having taken on such a journey, such as this...defiantly confident, despite the odds...Who's to stop him, right??...
...a most inspirational piece of work, as rendered by IndiePix Films, the DVD of "The Booker" also includes trailers for two other interesting documentary productions. One, a personal study and reminiscent reflection of renowned tattoo artist, Norman Collins, called "Hori Smoku Sailor Jerry"...his intricate body work, and what he was most know to have been inspired by; and two, "The Nine Lives of Marion Barry" takes a look at the meteoric rise, the plummeting fall, and the subsequent re-emergence of the controversial political once-hopeful and celebrity, Marion Barry...his suggested potential in history, snuffed by a controversial crime, which to this day, conspiracy theories seem to suggest that he might have been set up...
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