Hadn't watched it in like 4 years, and in an attempt to continue to procrastinate from exam study, gave it another watch. Still really awesome.
Wrestling with Shadows is a horrible documentary. Bret creates all this self-promotion for himself and the documentor is doing all he can to create this angle about how Bret is some Canadian hero.
For example, part of the documentary focuses on Steve Austin's rise in popularity and how it somehow shows a changed society where people don't recognise goods guys from bad guys. Yet if you read Bret Hart's book he'll tell you he was given the option of being a babyface or heel by Vince McMahon, and despite enjoying being a babyface, he wanted to be a heel because apparently Undertaker, Austin and Michaels (the then babyfaces) were safe workers. And I can't recall the amount of times he's said in interviews that he enjoyed being a heel immensely! Yet in the documentary he talks about how people turned their back on him, and how he was betrayed by his fans. It's wrestling! People will boo and cheer for who they like and it doesn't reflect anything about society's values. You can be a wonderful person, but you might enjoy seeing the bad guys win in a movie, and it doesn't mean anything because people don't take it seriously.
Other parts of the documentary, such as when Bret is talking to his dad about his 'modest request' not to lose in Montreal actually happened AFTER MONTREAL. The directly ever so sneakily put that part in before Bret was screwed to give the scene extra effect.
But, the worst part of the documentary is when Bret Hart says he'd prefer to get raped than lose the belt in Canada. "I wont let them rape me." I think the Canadian fans would have been disappointed had Bret lost normally with his back to the mat, but they would have gotten over it. They would have followed, and did follow, Bret to WCW. Yet Bret Hart talks about how that was the day where the murdered the Hitman character. Total crap! If anything Bret turned himself into a martyr after Montreal and people believed he was some good guy who got screwed over by a merciless boss.
Bret Hart has had to live with what he's created in the last 11 years. I've read 100s of Bret Hart interviews since Montreal, and no matter how many questions he got about other subjects, he always brought the subject of the interview towards Montreal, like he can't get over it. He complains people always ask him about it, but in truth Montreal was only as big a deal and Bret wanted to make it.
It's like David Campese's ****-up in 1989. It was a mistake he made and he got badly criticised for it. But after the dust had settled he kept on talking about it. In his book he mentions it in his first chapter at the end, defending himself. He talked about how if he doesn't receive the ball often enough, he feels out of touch of the game and makes mistakes. He talked about Lynagh's percentage tactics and how they weren't the way to go. He talked about how that 1989 side should have been more like the 1984 side.
I honestly think that moment is mroe infamous because of how Campo handled it. It's the same with Bret. Even if he was in the right and the WWE was in the wrong, he could have just said in interviews and documentaries that, "It's disappointing. I felt I was right and they treated me the wrong way." But instead he talks about how mean and vindictave Vince McMahon is. How he enjoys screwing people. How he was loyal and never missed a show, never injured people, had the best matches, gave his life to that company, and how they spat on him etc.
Wrestling with Shadows is an example of Bret being a mark for himself. Of creating all this good guy publicity. But years later he still can't get over it. He tears Vince McMahon to shreds in his latest book, taking every single shot he possibly could at him. I honestly believe he's added to his own unhappiness by making such a big deal over it. Later on, after Montreal, he suffered a really bad stroke which was a result of a mis-timed kick from Goldberg and the stress he was feeling in his life (Owen's death can't he helped). But he let himself became so dark and warped as a result of Montreal - he didn't move on with his life and its affected the quality of his life.
