In The Restless Heart, Catholic writer Ronald Rolheiser states: "Loneliness is one of the deepest, most universal, and most profound experiences that we have." This feeling of isolation and separation from others can happen when we are alone or in the middle of a crowd of people. We usually identify it with those who are on the margins of our society: the poor, the elderly, orphans, addicts, and others in dire straights. But all of us have experienced the moments of pain and hurt that accompany loneliness, and it is wise to recognize and accept it as a normal part of our lives.

Darren Aronofsky's (The Fountain) The Wrestler deals with the acute anguish of one man's loneliness. During this powerful drama, we are witness to his desperate attempts to come to terms with it in his own way. We find ourselves drawn into his strange world and forced to confront some important dimensions of our own loneliness.

Randy "the Ram" Robinson (Mickey Rourke) is a popular wrestler whose glory days were in the 1980s. Now 20 years later he bears the scars and marks of his trade with a battered body and a tattered spirit. In the opening scene, Ram is locked out of his trailer home because he hasn't paid the rent. He has a part-time job in a local supermarket warehouse. With no friends except his cronies in the wrestling world, his only contact with another human being is with Cassidy (Marisa Tomei), a stripper at a gentleman's club who is older than most of the other girls. In a chat, she looks at the scars on his body and recommends that he see the movie The Passion of the Christ. She says that Jesus must have been a "tough dude" since he was able to endure everything his enemies threw at him.

Ram is a tough dude, too, but he is felled by a heart attack. No one is at the hospital to see him. Cassidy advises him to get in touch with his estranged daughter whom he hasn't seen for years. This reunion is not easy for him; Stephanie (Evan Rachel Wood) reveals just how much his absence in her life has hurt her. With Cassidy's help, he finds his daughter a gift and tries very hard to be nice to her, but her anger is still very strong. At one point, Ram admits to her, "I deserve to be alone."

The Wrestler is based on a bare bones screenplay by Robert Siegel. It comes across as a laser-sharp study of one man's confrontation with his own excruciating loneliness. Mickey Rourke gives an Academy Award-caliber performance as the bruiser whose body has given out on him. Director Aronofsky sheds light on Ram's soul in a handful of poignant and memorable scenes — his moments of ease with Cassidy when they share their joy over the same music from the 1980s, the look on his face when he learns from a doctor that he has to slow down his life and give up wrestling, the anger he feels at finicky customers while working at the deli in the supermarket, the humiliation he experiences after skipping a dinner with his daughter, and the exhilaration that comes over him when he enters the ring for a 20th-anniversary rematch with Ayatollah. In the end, Ram realizes that the only family he has are the fans who have followed his legendary career and cheered him on in countless matches. That epiphany is one that comes at a turning point in his life, and he is willing to stake everything on it.

Special DVD features include "Within the Ring - A No-Holds-Barred One-on-One with Wrestlers and Filmmakers" and The Wrestler Music Videos.