The father's excessive ambition will turn into the children's tragic suffering. This is clearly the dramatic credo of “The Iron Claw”, one of the saddest dramas of this year, already showing in cinemas in Puerto Rico. Writer-director Sean Durkin's drama dramatizes the true story of the Von Erich family and shows how, despite being a group of talented athletes, their personal traumas literally destroy their potential in the world of professional wrestling.
Although there are many cutscenes in the film and a first frame shows us that the director clearly wants to evoke Scorsese “Wild bull The most intense scenes on a dramatic level take place at this family's table. The most shocking thing is when father Fritz von Erich (Holt McCallany) speaks openly about the order in which he has his four children. From his favorite to the one he believes has the least potential to uphold the family legacy. The fact that McCallany interprets this with naturalness and freedom from cruelty makes the moment even more harrowing. His character is not someone who is abusive in a traditional way. What is clear is that he is completely blind to the humanity of his children. He only sees triumphs and failures.
The great success of the film is that the story of this family alternates between Fritz's point of view and that of his third son Kevin, played by Zac Efron, who delivers the best performance of his entire career. This is a character who sees the athletic challenges of wrestling as an opportunity to develop more connections with his brothers. Efron changes his body for this role, but what's most impressive is how he manages to bring Kevin's sensitivity to the surface. Of all the Von Erichs, he is the only one who has the courage to ask his mother (Maura Tierney) to protect his siblings from their father's emotional beatings. And the film's narrative shows how this intensifies as Kevin starts his own family and has to deal with the responsibilities of being a father.
Despite the exceptional performances of the entire main cast, which includes Jeremy Allen White, Harris Dickinson, Lily James and Stanley Simons, The subtlety of the direction and the structure of the script make “The Iron Claw” a marathon of tragedies. The film never manages to achieve dramatic intensity. The narrative unfolds slowly as the dream of a happy ending slowly dies. What gives everything dramatic unity is Efron's work. Her final scene with her two children is sure to break the audience's heart.