The. Calamari. Wrestler.

This, WITHOUT A DOUBT, is the most amazing movie I have ever seen. And you can get it through netflix. I am also working hard at making it required viewing in all schools--maybe I can somehow sneak it in with the abstinence videos.

The first clip is from the beginning of the movie, when the Calamari Wrestler makes his debut. Pretty exciting!




I won't give away the whole plot line, but here is a little background: The Calamari Wrestler is actually a wrestler who died from cancer (? I think, or some mysterious illness), and then comes back as an ass-kicking squid. Calamari Wrestler has business to finish, i.e. some non-cephalopod butt kicking to do. (I.E. DO NOT WRITE A CHECK YOUR TENTACLE CAN'T CASH!).

The guy Calamari Wrestler wants to wrestle seems like he might be the antagonist, but really, this movie is too deep and textured to be constrained by simple protagonist/antagonist themes. Especially when the supposed antagonist turns into an octopus to wrestle the Calamari. And then, after they wrestle, they become friends, and the Calamari Wrestler faces the biggest wrestling challenge of his career: Wrestling a "squilla." (Some sites thought this creature in the movie was a lobster. It's not. It's a mantis shrimp). A tiny mantis shrimp can punch through plate glass, so obviously, it makes a formidable opponent when it is the size of a person.

Preparing for wrestling the squilla is no lauging matter, and our Calamari Wrestler takes it VERY seriously. Plus there are some touching moments of interspecies friendship at the end of this one:



You'll have to rent the movie to see how the thrilla with the squilla ends. I realize that this post may seem like incoherent babbling but that is because watching The Calamari Wrestler CHANGED ME FOREVER, and frankly I'm not sure if I can effectively communicate with people WHO HAVE NOT SEEN IT.