HBO’s Andre the Giant documentary stands tall
The filmmakers behind this HBO documentary, which began airing April 10, really wanted to get the story right. But it’s about professional wrestling, and one of its major stars. Wrestling is a sport that, while featuring remarkable athletes performing astounding feats — just about all of them carefully choreographed — is brimming with mythology.
Andre the Giant was a prime example. There were all sorts of legends surrounding him: His height, his weight, how much he ate, how much he drank (and we’re talking about liquor). The filmmakers wanted to find their way past all of that, and get to the real man, to Andre Roussimoff, the French athlete whose size was due to a medical condition called acromegaly, which made him grow in irregular spurts throughout his life.
Told in chronological order, from his childhood till his death in 1993 at age 46, the film presents a mix of in-ring wrestling action and a cavalcade of interviews with people who knew him.
The film regularly points out the big man’s big smile and great sense of humor, but doesn’t shy away from the fact that he led a difficult life.
Though the film eventually turns dark, focusing on Andre finding himself in constant pain, it never stops celebrating him, or making it clear that everyone talking about him is doing it with reverence. It all leads up to some footage and some surprising drama at Wrestlemania 3, the 1987 event at which Andre pretty much passed the torch to Hulk Hogan as the next big star. There’s a sad ending to Andre’s story, but that story is an amazing one.