maiquedi It's a must-see for wrestling fans, but it's not just with them in mind. It also addresses people who don't understand the art of sports entertainment itself. To call this a biography of Bret Hart's career would be an understatement.To begin with, although it features mainly comments from Bret Hart himself, it's not actually biased towards "The Hit-man" - it features in fact takes on many of the wrestlers and Mr. McMahon himself. Most importantly, though, it's a deep journey into the unknown world of Wrestling behind the scenes: it doesn't hide the fact that most results are staged, but it also shows us why "Sports Entertainment" is enjoyed by so many people, why there are the good guys and the bad guys in the rivalries between the performers, and points out that the stigma of wrestling being fake is an overstatement. As Bret said, and I quote: "There is an art to wrestling, but people never come up to say 'You're a hell of an actor', they always come and say 'You're a phony!' Naturally, one big part of the documentary involves Bret's personal life and endeavors involving family members and fellow wrestlers, including the popular and shocking "Montreal Screwjob," and it does an excellent job at that. However, this is not just about "The Hit-man", it's about Wrestling Entertainment itself, its performers arduous tasks and lives outside the ring and how the fans define what they do. It's an awe-inspiring perspective that makes all sense and, without hiding anything, portrays the business as something even not only intriguing but also exciting and that has even once defined a rivalry between people from the U.S. and Canada.

metalrox_2000 When you boil away the melodrama, there was one lessen that everyone and anyone looking to get into the world of professional wrestling needs to know. No one is bigger then the sport. Yes, Bret Hart was one of the best performers ever. It was sad to see what Bret became in his last year with the WWF He became self absorbed, something that was evident in many of the scenes, and sadly, he was losing himself within his gimmick. His idea of going over Shawn Michaels, and vacating the WWF belt the following night would have been a serious blow to the stature of the WWF, and Vince needed to protect his interest, hence the "Montreal Screw job" That would have made the WWF look like a lower league to WCW. Bret's own words in not wanting to put Shawn over in his home country showed me that Vince was right, Bret screwed Bret, or more accurately, The Hit-man screwed Bret Hart. Despite his upbringing, Bret Hartr shows that when it comes to wrestling, he only cared about what made him look good. Even when Bret comments how he hated getting hurt in a match against the late Dino Bravo, mainly because it was a guy he didn't want to lose to. The film is a great documentary about what happens when fame goes to an athlete's head, and the over look everything they have. And also, a sad commentary about a man presented as a hero, but was as selfish as the common man.

Brian Washington This is probably the best documentary on the world of professional wrestling. It is a no nonsense look at how much wrestling has changed since the its beginnings to what it is now. You get to look behind the characters that the wrestlers create and see how the business treats them as nothing more than commodities after their usefulness is over. Vince McMahon is pretty much shown to be not much different than his character on Raw or Smackdown. In fact, he is shown to be a backstabbing lowlife who lets his personal pride get in the way of his friendship with his company's brightest star. This is one documentary that does open some eyes.

bluesyxx I was absolutely amazed when I caught this documentary on cable. Up until his point the behind the scenes of pro wrestling were just that, behind the scenes. The wrestling business is famously protected, any peek we get into it's inner workings is absolutely Amazing. As a life long wrestling fan, I consider this documentary be a one of a kind, an other wrestling fans who see this would have to agree. Also a look at the white hot Sunny, in all her splendor. Now having put this over from a wrestling standard. Let us examine the now infamous events of Montreal,when Bret screwed Bret. The events are caught by the camera following Bret around for his last year in the WWF. Bret Hart tries his best to be the hero here, and I believe he is, but can't help but feel that Bret is a master of hi craft, Vinny Mac is a master of his craft, if these two, and a few others wanted to, they could fool he world. I will withhold my own personal opinion as to if the events as they are portrayed here transpired as this documentary says, or not. Was it all a work? Did Bret really screw Bret? "Hitman Hart:Wrestling with Shadows" is but a mere piece of the puzzle. Conspiracy wrestling hounds like myself love this sort of thing, but the non-wrestling fan might also enjoy it for the sheer human drama, I give it a 9 out of 10. I took away a point because I don't know if I can really trust Bret, the master worker, and I am also a huge Shawn Michaels mark, HBK 4 life.