The film Unstoppable (2010) is the Rocky of wrestling, with one major difference: it is a true story.
I am skeptical of sports biography movies because I expect Hollywood to take great liberties for dramatic purposes. So, I decided to read the autobiographical book by Anthony Robles, on which the film is based, titled Unstoppable: From Underdog to Undefeated: How I Became a Champion (2013).
I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the movie did not stray far from the book, taking only a few deviations from the accurate account of Robles, who was born with one leg and went on to become an NCAA champion wrestler.
The movie stars Jharrel Jerome, who delivers a phenomenal performance as Robles, who served as a stunt double for some of the wrestling action. Jennifer Lopez is equally good as Anthony’s mother, Judy, who gave birth to him when she was sixteen. She never thought of getting an abortion, stating, “That was a live person—a little person who’s part of me. I couldn’t do anything to harm it. It wouldn’t be fair.”
The father immediately deserted, but when many well-meaning friends suggested putting Anthony up for adoption, Judy flat out refused. Judy got romantically involved with 19-year-old Ron Robles, who was married to another woman with whom he had two children. Although he divorced his wife to marry Judy, he was a serial philanderer and verbally abusive to Judy and Anthony. He also resented the close bond between Judy and Anthony. Anthony’s biological father is Black, and some on Ron’s side of the family were prejudiced against Anthony for his skin color.
Half of the movie is devoted to the family struggles, with Lopez receiving a significant amount of screen time. When I watched the film, I thought that was a bit much, but having read the book, it really is central to the struggles that Anthony had to overcome.
Lopez had dinner with Anthony and Judy and asked Judy a lot of questions so she could properly portray her. “She took the time to understand everything my mom had to deal with and to embody all the positive energy and drive she has to this day,” said Anthony. “When I look at Jennifer, I see my mom in the best way possible.”
Anthony’s cousin encouraged him to wrestle, and he decided to give it a try in junior high. At first, he didn’t do very well. For one thing, he stood up, like everybody else. Even though he had good balance, he couldn’t attack and take his shots at his opponent’s legs.
As he continued with the sport in high school, his coaches convinced him to drop down low on the mat, which made him much more dangerous. He worked tirelessly to strengthen his already firm grip (from walking with crutches) and upper body. He won two Arizona state wrestling championships, compiling a 96–0 record in his junior and senior years combined at Mesa High School.
He walked on to Arizona State and redshirted as a freshman, eventually earning a full-ride scholarship. The movie accurately depicts ASU dropping its wrestling program while Anthony was there. Still, it implies that it lasted for a long period of time, when in fact it only lasted a little over a week before a benefactor came forward to save the program.
The film manufactures another event, showing the coach having to revoke Anthony’s scholarship to save money, and all the other scholarship wrestlers telling the coach they will leave the program if Anthony does. From all I’ve read, it never happened, but it’s a great scene. Anthony’s ASU coach, Shawn Charles, is played by Don Cheadle, who does an excellent job.
The film builds up to Anthony’s senior season, when he went 36-0 and then faced defending NCAA 125-pound champion, sophomore Matt McDonough of powerhouse Iowa. The irony is that Anthony always wanted to wrestle for Iowa; now he would wrestle against them.
Despite Anthony’s outstanding high school record, only one Division I school, Drexel, offered him a scholarship. None of the other big wrestling schools contacted him. Anthony feels it’s because nobody wanted to take a shot at a one-legged wrestler if he failed.
The film plays up the McDonough-Robles match by showing McDonough defeating Anthony at the Nationals the previous year. That never happened, although Anthony did lose in the quarterfinals that year. The film also shows McDonough being interviewed and taking some digs at Anthony. As far as I can tell, that never happened either. However, Anthony describes in his book that McDonough and his teammates did try to intimidate Anthony by hovering around and staring at him while he was going through his pre-match workout.
Since I already told you Anthony becomes an NCAA champ, you know how it comes out—Anthony defeats McDonough. The action is very well done, and the emotion Lopez shows from the stands is very moving and very accurate, as I’ve seen the actual footage of Judy cheering her son on.
After he lost in the quarterfinals of the Nationals the previous year, Anthony felt like quitting wrestling. He was physically and emotionally exhausted, both from the sport and from his family’s tensions. But he then received fan mail from a third-grade class, who were asked to pick their hero and chose him.
The letters bolstered Anthony’s spirits and helped him decide to come back for his senior year. The movie portrays this and gets it right. Robles told USA Today that the fan mail “completely just changed the trajectory of my life.” He added that becoming a national champion “didn’t matter to me. Really, what mattered to me now is I wanted to show these kids that anything’s possible.”
In his book, he writes, “Thank you, third graders, for reminding me that I wasn’t wrestling just for myself. I was raised to believe God made me for a purpose. That purpose, it seemed, was to give people hope, to remind them that, with hard work and persistence, anything is possible.”
Read the book, see the film, or both. Truly inspirational.
