Em Busca da Vitória

...It's a way of life. Anyone who has ever wrestled, as I have, has learned lessons that stick with them for the rest of their lives. Even those who never make it to a tournament, or who don't get past being an "exhibition" wrestler learns these lessons. More than any other sport, wrestling teaches valuable lessons about self reliance, self determination, self confidence, and to get through life without making excuses for failure. It also teaches about setting lofty goals and not giving up when things go wrong, about what it takes to succeed in any station in life. This movie conveys these lessons well. Many folks who say this is a typical eighties movie should also know that the lessons it teaches are timeless, no matter what time period is depicted here. It could easily have been set in the fifties, sixties, nineties, right up to the present day and still say what it has to say. It's really a shame that real wrestling hasn't caught on too well in this country because it has some valuable life lessons to teach for those who become involved with it. Because when it gets right down to it, life is one big wrestling match. That is the theme of the movie, and it dramatized it very well.

Its not hard to understand why some viewers would dislike this movie, since less than .1% of the worlds population ever wrestled in a competitive environment.

But, for those that have, and for the friends and parents of those wrestlers, this movie is a solid 9/10 rating. The movie hits on every aspect of this sports tortuous rigor: losing weight every week, not eating, training, and the mental gymnastics involved with having to believe that you can beat anyone at anytime.

And most realistically, this movie also shows the hardships of doing what every other high school kid does, in combination with the rigors of the sport. They have love relationships, they have classmates, they have to deal with the teachers and coaches, as well as their own family, plus they have to deal with their own teammates each week who may want to take over the top position at their weight.

As one who had over 100 high school matches (15 years before the making of this movie), I can confirm that there is no better movie than this about high school wrestling. When you rate this movie you should not think about how good it is among all other movies, rather you should rate it solely based on its ability to achieve the objective of accurately portraying its subject.

I guess that some would think Louden is not a "team player", but wrestling is an individual sport, no matter how others would want to portray it (although if you win your team gets points). Now that this diatribe (which it might be to some) is about over, I will summarize as follows: Do not watch the movie if you don't care about seeing an exceptionally good story about high school wrestling, you won't like it!

Any time I need to get psyched up this is the movie I think about. I learned watching it back in the 80's that if you have a dream you have to go after it because nobody is going to give it to you. It doesn't matter if you are a wrestler, a financial analyst, an astronaut or a bartender everybody has a dream. Louden set a goal, had a plan and went after what he wanted, that's what we all need to do. This movie has had a great effect on my life. I guess everybody has their own motivational tools and cheesy or not this is one of mine. From the peg board climbing scene to the Pele description scene to the warm up scene playing out to "Lunatic Fringe" before his match with Shute this movie, in my opinion is an inspirational masterpiece. I really wish they would re-release the soundtrack because I can't find it anywhere.

From middle school to high, i watched this movie at least 4 times each wrestling and freestyle season. This movie depicts the weight cutting, inner team competitiveness, and young athlete determination of high school. But at the same time, it shows a young man juggling a job and "womanly needs". Shute is probably the coolest "villain" of all sport movies, and his scene with the pole and bleacher walk makes every schoolboy thank god they never wrestled him. Louden is your unlikely hero, but its realistic when you grow with him and watch him work for it. The acting in this movie is nothing to marvel at, but it does not hold or distract you from a great story. Even though i rated this movie a 7, it is one of my favorites, and is a true hidden gem.

Don't let the title, or the fact that this movie is about wrestling, deter you as it almost did me. Vision Quest is not a campy sci-fi flick, nor is it about a sweaty muscle head frolicking around in a leotard to Cyndi Lauper; it's an entertaining tale with hints of the irreplaceable 1980's luster that most of the great films from that era provide.

Louden Swain is sort of a goofy character, but he's authentic and ironclad. Louden drives through the experiences of youth with all the wonder and ferocity anyone could hope for. A combination of solid writing and acting render him a palpable character who's easy to empathize with. The northwestern city atmosphere helps.

Linda Fiorentino puts out a relatively deep character, and her looks don't hurt anything. There are some good performances elsewhere; happily, there really aren't many two dimensional characters to speak of.

Initially, the movie feels a little kitsch, but if you stick with it, you'll find it's more about coming of age and romance than sports. Not really a mind-blowing script or anything too memorable, but not at all a bad way to blow ninety minutes.