The Resurrection of Jake the Snake

Release:  2015

Director:  Steve Yu

Producer:  Chris Bell, Christopher Carey, Dallas Page, Steve Yu

Editing:  Christopher Carey, Dylan Frymyer, Nathan Mowery, Steven Yu

Cast:  Jake Roberts, Steve Yu, Diamond Dallas Page, Scott ‘Razor Ramon’ Hall

Running Time:  93 minutes

During the eighties and nineties wrestling never really hooked me in.  I was aware of it like all ‘fads’ kids talk about in the school yard or on the street.  And as a passing viewer with no real sense of the history, characters or the nuances of the spectacle of wrestling, I was aware of only the most famous participants.  Gladiators of the ring like Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant were ubiquitous.  Jake the Snake was one of those guys.  Except that he wasn’t.  Where they were loud and over the top like television’s 1960s Batman, his persona was dark and twisted like a millennial Joker. This was best exemplified when Jake carried a large snake across his broad shoulders into the ring, most notably a python called Damien.

Jake reached the pinnacle of the wrestling world with WWE (or WWF as it was then) in the eighties and nineties but had fallen a long way by the time we meet him in late 2012.  By then 57 years old, he is a long-time alcoholic and drug addict in serious financial trouble.  The film is interspersed with various video clips of both Jake’s heyday and later his tragic drunken attempts at wrestling in far lesser arenas than the WWE, showing just how badly his addiction beat him up.  We find out later that the only reason he hasn’t committed suicide is his desire not to hurt his kids more than he already has done.

His saviour from addiction is to be Diamond Dallas Page, another former wrestler, trained by Jake in his early career before hitting the big time.  They will be joined on this journey by director Steve Yu.  Jake (real name Aurelian Smith Jr.) moves into Page’s home in Atlanta Georgia weighing over 300 pounds, and is as far removed from the visual idea of an athlete as one can possibly be.   

His recovery begins with Yoga, exercise, healthy eating, AA meetings and a permanent support group.  The weight comes off rapidly and in a matter of weeks we are looking at a fitter, happier man.  But of course trouble is never far away and the road has more than a few bumps along it.  The most interesting facet of Jake’s falling off the wagon is witnessing the mindset of an addict.  Bare-faced lying, rationalisation and indignant anger are core to the performance for the rest of the world.  In contrast the immediate aftermath of the relapses present a child-like sorrow in this 6 ft 6 in, 250 lb alcoholic, before he once again picks himself up and deals with his reality in an honest and brave manner. 

However, there are couple of slightly unsettling aspects to this film, or maybe there are to someone like this writer, not inured to the American way of life.  The first is the director’s need to be involved in the process.  This robs the film of any real objectivity.  Perhaps a Louis Theroux approach where the documentarian interacts with their subjects, but becomes neither a positive nor negative catalyst would have been more interesting.  It feels too much like we’re all on Team Roberts.  Or are we?  There seems to be another team present in this film, DDP Yoga, a fitness venture developed by Page.   Regular shots of DDP Yoga t-shirts, sports bags and video blogs/promos for the DDP Yoga site appear throughout.  Page’s affection for Jake seems genuine, but it also seems like he’s investing on two levels.  Fellow former wrestler and current addict Scott Hall, perhaps better known as Razor Ramon, joins Jake in Page’s home.  This serves to bolster the idea of community, as a recovering Robert’s tries to help Hall, but this ends up feeling too much like a testimonial.  But, maybe just like religion, the ends justify the means in offering someone struggling with addiction and its’ underlying causes, another shot at life.

The director infuses a narrative around redemption within the wrestling world into his film, which at best feels perfunctory, and will most likely be of interest only to dyed-in-the-wool wrestling fans. And naturally the film ends on a positive note, which is both fitting given Jake’s highly laudable efforts, and at the same time DDP Yoga brand positive.  The cherry on top of this particular American Pie is a finale with a particularly tacky lift from Rocky III.

The film’s best moments are not the metaphorical car crashes of Jake’s drunkenness, but instead the moments of emotional clarity and honesty shared by Jake when he is stone cold sober.  We discover how his relationship with a physically and emotionally abusive father scarred him for life, and how this became his motivation to succeed in wrestling and surpass his father’s achievements.  We see a man desperate to form a relationship with his own children and grandchildren, who does eventually realise that dream.  These open, raw moments are the emotional core of the film.  Though the DDP Yoga aspect of the film taints things, and the persona of Jake the Snake Roberts casts a shadow over proceedings, there is no doubt that the struggle and triumph of Aurelian Smith Jr. is a truly moving insight into addiction and recovery.

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