Hitman Hart "Wrestling With Shadows": The Decade Too Late Film Review

Since Bret Hart has signed with WWE, I figured I would re-watch the documentary made about him. 

When Bret Hart was at the end of his WWE career, he gave exclusive access to a Canadian Filmmaker named Paul Jay to document his life.  This documentary happened to be shot at the same time as the Montreal Screwjob.

I remember watching this a long time ago right after it came out on some random channel, but I was too young to appreciate how great of a documentary this really was or what it was trying to say.

It goes very deep into Bret's personal life and gives an inside view into what happened at the end of Bret's WWE run.

Paul Jay does an excellent job of not focusing exclusively on the Montreal incident but rather on the man Bret Hart as the subject of the film.  This easily could have been made into a film about how WWE screwed Bret, but instead it kept true to its original purpose: to document the greatest wrestler in the world.

The film has plenty of scenes showing Bret's parents, especially Stu.  Bret's father is known as one of the toughest men to ever step foot in the ring and has kept that same rep as a trainer over the years.

Guys like Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Brian Pillman, Davey Boy Smith, Jushin Liger, Jim Neidhart, Tyson Kidd, DH Smith, and Superstar Billy Graham have trained with the legendary Hart Partiarch.  Over 80 in total have come out of the Hart Dungeon. 

Even some guys who you may never have known, like Mark Henry and Monty Brown, put in time down in the Dungeon.

Scenes of Stu putting some students through hell were included to show what kind of training the Hart boys went through.  Bret and Owen were the most famous, but all the brothers had a hand in the rasslin' business.  Even the sisters all married wrestlers.  This family lives, breathes, and bleeds wrestling.

Even at an advanced age Stu was able to put a hurtin' on some youngsters who thought they were tough.

The most memorable moment of the film to me was something simple that did not garner much of the film's time.  It involved one of Bret's sons who was with him that night in Montreal. 

Bret's family was featured throughout the whole film, but his son Blade was seen the most.  He was shown fooling around with guys like the Headbangers and HHH, which goes to show the kind of family atmosphere the WWE has backstage.

At one point they showed Tammy "Sunny" Sytch hide around the corner and proceed to surprise and chase Blade throughout the backstage area.  She picked him up head over heels and carried him around.  You could tell she really cared for Bret and his family. 

Blade seemed to enjoy hanging out with all the WWE crew.  Then again who wouldn't want to be chased around by Sunny?

That night seemed to take a toll on the younger Hart, as he was shown holding his father's hand while walking through the back after the match.  To witness the person you call dad be treated in that way by people you considered a second family would be tough on anyone.

As the film came to a close, they began to discuss the Montreal Incident.  Bret had worn a wire in his private meeting with Vince so we heard the conversation of how Bret was going to lose via DQ but retain the title to give it up the next night on Raw.

Obviously this is not how things went down, and we saw Vthat ince had the bell rung while Shawn had the sharpshooter locked on Bret.  The reaction Bret had was understandable. He spit in Vince's face and proceeded to destroy the announce table.

The most revealing moment of the film shows Bret in the back after the match talking to Shawn Michaels.  HBK claims up and down that he had nothing to do with it and had no idea.  His exact words were "I swear to  F'n god I didn't know".  Shawn later admitted to having knowledge of how things would go down before the match.

Bret's wife at the time was shown berating some superstars like HHH, believing they had knowledge of the incident ahead of time.  They all swore they had no idea. 

There was a huge difference in seeing Bret's wife before the match, when she talked about how she would miss everyone, and then after the match, when she was hurt and upset by the actions of a company for which her husband had given his blood, sweat, and tears.

Watching this documentary revealed so much about what happens backstage at the WWE that I am surprised it is not featured more prominently.  This was an excellent film overall, documenting the end of an era in the WWE.  Anyone who has not seen it and wants the best info about the Montreal screwjob should watch this.

I would rate this a 5/5 star film.  I will include a link where the film can be watched free of charge for those interested in seeing what really happened in Montreal that night, as well as some insight into the man known as The best there is, The best there was, And the best there ever will be.  Every Wrestling fan should see this film.

http://www.nfb.ca/film/hitman_hart_wrestling_with_shadows/