According to its mission statement, “AFI FEST … showcase[es] the best films from across the globe to captivated audiences in Los Angeles. With a diverse and innovative slate of programming, the film festival presents a robust lineup of fiction and nonfiction features and shorts … along with panels and conversations featuring both master filmmakers and new cinematic voices.” The American Film Institute’s 38th annual film fete took place Oct. 23-27 at the TCL Chinese Theatre (that iconic movie palace formerly known as Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, with stars’ cement footprints in its famed courtyard) and the nearby TCL Chinese 6 Theatre, located beside Hollywood Blvd.’s fabled “Walk of Fame.”
On Oct. 26 I had two close encounters involving the heavenly bodies. On my way home from AFI FEST driving east on the 60 Freeway high above me in the night sky I saw what looked like a swiftly streaking sphere of light. After a few seconds this Unidentified Aerial Phenomena disappeared, leaving me to ponder what I had seen. And earlier that afternoon at the TCL Chinese 6 Theatre I sat only about 20 feet away from a “UAPR” – or, Unearthly Attractive Puerto Rican – when Jennifer Lopez joined a panel discussion following the screening of the new movie J.Lo co-stars in, “Unstoppable.”
This fact-based film about real-life wrestler Anthony Robles (Jharrel Jerome, who was in 2016’s “Moonlight” and won an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for 2019’s “When They See Us”) is the directorial debut of William Goldenberg (who received four Academy Award editing nominations and won the Oscar for 2012’s “Argo”), and is co-produced by Ben Affleck and co-exec produced by Matt Damon. Robles was born out-of-wedlock with only one leg to his solo mom Judy (Lopez) and is fixated on compensating for his missing limb. (As his biological father is never disclosed onscreen, I’m unsure as to exactly what the dark-skinned Robles’ ethnicity is.)
Determined that the first thing people say or think about him won’t be that he’s “missing” something because he’s one-legged, the Arizona born and raised Robles doggedly pursues wrestling on the high school and collegiate level. He embarks on grueling training, puts up with taunts, et al, in his single-minded, fanatical pursuit to make the Arizona State University team so he’ll be perceived first and foremost as a champ – not as a cripple person with a handicap. At the same time, Robles has to contend with the abuse of Judy’s husband, Rick (Bobby Cannavale), a mean-spirited prison guard, and presumably the father of her four or so other children.
The script by Eric Champnella, Alex Harris, John Hindman does a good job of interweaving the sports saga with the family drama in this rousing 116-minute movie. The action scenes, when Robles (literally) goes to the mat and takes on all comers, are well-shot in the tradition of sports movies like “Raging Bull” and “Rocky” (there are repeat references to the latter franchise when Robles wrestles at Rocky Balboa’s hometown, Philly.)
“Unstoppable” has a great cast, who pack a punch (or should I say deliver a headlock?) with their powerful performances. Michael Peña and Don Cheadle are earnest and motivational as, respectfully, Robles’ dedicated high school and college coaches. Cannavale is alternately menacing and pathetic as the kind of loser who’d cast his ballot for Trump because he’s a “real man.” “Jenny from the Block” is poignant as the beleaguered mom who’s trying to make ends meet and hold her family together, as she deals with temperamental Rick and is unwavering in her support of her son’s special needs and championship quest. (No stranger to playing true life characters such as in 1997’s Selena, perhaps Jennifer Lopez related to Judy Robles as a fellow Latina who has had marital problems of her own.)
In the panel discussion following the screening, it came out that the real-life Anthony Robles – who took part in the post-film talk – actually participates in some of the onscreen wrestling sequences as a sort of stunt double or something along those lines. (He also shares producer credits and is far buffer than the thesp who depicts him.) I didn’t recognize Jharrel Jerome when he joined the panel because he has both legs – for some reason, it was never raised during the discussion precisely what movie magic was used to hide/“remove” one of his limbs onscreen. Inquiring minds want to know (and BTW, how Jennifer Lopez – who wore shorts during the panel – has such divinely lovely legs, another thing that defies credulity).
To tell you the truth, sports productions aren’t among my favorite film genres. I think the over adulation and compensation of athletes is unseemly in a society wracked by income inequality and poverty. If someone can explain to me why sportsmen deserve millions of dollars while hundreds of thousands go hungry and/or are homeless, I’ll eat my proverbial hat. I also don’t believe in competition – I prefer cooperation – and the more violent a sport is, the more I disapprove of it. My cousin Jonathan was a collegiate wrestler and he’s a very brainy, good guy with some sort of high paying tech or science-related job, so I don’t look down on wrestlers as a bunch of all-brawn, no-brains dolts or anything like that. But I don’t like the violence of wrestling and other contact sports. In addition, I think Robles’ disability is actually a metaphor for how the injustices and inequities of racism can cripple human beings.
Having said all that, I actually quite enjoyed this stirring biopic about the power of will power. And the admirable arc of Judy Robles, whom Lopez played and was also in person on the panel at AFI FEST, is arguably just as impressive as her son’s, as the Hispanic single mother struggles to overcome the adversity life has dealt her. In some ways, it’s more moving than her son’s fight to go for the gold. Audiences, especially sports fans, are likely to enjoy this crowd-pleasing, exciting sports/family survival melodrama. “Unstoppable” will be released in select theaters on Dec. 6 and on Prime Video starting Jan. 16, 2025.
For info about AFI Fest see: https://fest.afi.com/.
Ed Rampell is a film historian and critic based in Los Angeles. Rampell is the author of “Progressive Hollywood, A People’s Film History of the United States” and he co-authored “The Hawaii Movie and Television Book,” now in its third edition. This originally appeared in HollywoodProgressive.com.
Rampell has been nominated for three National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards in these categories:
Obituary/In Appreciation, Film Personalities -- “Remembering Norma Barzman, Last of the Hollywood Blacklistees”
Personality Profile, Film Personalities -- “Sixty Years After JFK’s Assassination, Oliver Stone Reflects”
Film Feature, Filmmakers “The Modern Odyssey of Mass Migration”
From The Progressive Populist, December 1, 2024
Blog | Current Issue | Back Issues | Essays | Links
About the Progressive Populist | How to Subscribe | How to Contact Us