“Unstoppable”: A Man’s Character is His Fate

Unstoppable streaming on Amazon is a film based on the true story of Anthony Robles, a wrestler born with one leg. I wanted to watch it because it was a movie about a Latino that starred Jharrel Jerome from When They See Us and Moonlight as Anthony, and the iconic Jennifer Lopez as his mom Judy. Michael Peña also stars as his high school coach Bobby Williams. Unstoppable is an inspiring story but what surprised me was that this wasn’t a movie where we saw Anthony facing bullies (although there are mean comments in the bleachers and domestic violence in the home), we didn’t focus on how hard life was for him with only one leg (he drives and moves extremely well on crutches), nor did we ever see him feel bad for himself because that’s not Anthony. We follow a young man who has the discipline and confidence in himself to believe he can be a wrestling champion. We might not all be athletes, but his mindset is something we can all imitate.

With the very first scene, we begin to understand Anthony’s character and his strength. We first meet him competing in the 2007 National High School Seniors Championship in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He’s from Mesa, Arizona, and wants to get recruited by the Iowa scouts who are there watching. Iowa is his first choice for college. When his coach asks him why strive for Iowa and not accept Drexel’s full ride, Anthony says simply, “Drexel’s never had a national champ. Iowa’s had 73.” He wins first place at nationals at the high school level and, as he’s standing on the platform, watches the second-place winner jump off and walk straight to the Iowa scouts and into a letterman jacket. The expression on Anthony’s face is a mixture of surprise and stoicism. He accepts that winning first place didn’t matter. The scout was never going to pick him. His relentless coach has a list of colleges he’s made calls to on Anthony’s behalf, but it’s hopeless as the list is full of cross-outs. Colleges don't want him even with his coach assuring them it’s only risky on paper. 

Anthony’s locker is filled with Post-its of affirmations, leaving no space for negativity. You start to think how does this kid continue pursuing his dream when the world only sees the one leg? It’s because of his mom, who’s at every match, and the people he surrounds himself with like his coach; they never focus on what he doesn’t have. His mom reveals a vulnerable story to him about when he was a year old. Judy’s mother gave her the option to let her raise him as Judy’s brother. Judy had a choice and in the end, she told herself, “If his mother doesn’t accept him, how will he ever accept himself?” That’s what’s so beautiful about Anthony—he accepts himself. Judy’s story touched me because it’s so relatable to blame yourself when something is different about your child. She didn’t make it about herself though and just loved her son the way he was. That attitude helped shape Anthony’s character and fate. Her and Anthony’s story reminded me again not to look at what my son with autism can’t do but what he can.

It’s impressive and heart-wrenching to see how hard Anthony pushes himself at Arizona State University where he starts as a walk-on. As a walk-on, he still has to beat other wrestlers who were recruited ahead of him to get a spot on the team. The recruiting process is vigorous, so much so that the saying goes the point of it is not to cut people but to make them drop out. Unlike Anthony’s encouraging high school coach, Coach Shawn Charles at ASU played by Don Cheadle, sees the Anthony who only has one leg, and tells him in so many words that his high school career could very well be it for him. But that doesn’t even deter Anthony. There’s a pivotal scene during recruitment where Anthony gains the respect of not only his peers but Coach Shawn. They’re set the excruciating task of running up the classified extremely difficult three-mile Phoenix Mountains Trail during a period of heat warning. Anthony has every reason to drop out now or beg his coach for an easier modified task. But he doesn’t do that. He hikes the rocky terrain just like everybody else. Except he’s not like everybody else. He does it on crutches. As they get closer to the peak, the coach tells him he’s surprised to see him. Anthony’s response? “Don’t be.” This scene is just one of many in the movie that shows what human will is capable of.

While so many of us find ways out of difficult or uncomfortable situations, he maneuvers a way to complete any given task. Anthony with one leg pushes himself past human expectations. With his ostensible limitations, he unbelievably chooses to not just devote himself to a sport but to excel in it. After losing the finals in the 2010 NCAA Championships to Matt McDonough who hasn’t lost a match in his college career at Iowa (Anthony’s dream school), his old high school coach who has remained a father figure in his life and continues to attend his matches, asks Anthony why he wrestles. “Because,” says Anthony,  “it’s the only sport where a guy can’t run away from me.” It’s admirable that he puts himself out there on the mat on a platform where he’s leaving himself open to ridicule but once people see what he can do there’s nothing left to do but applaud him. Most of us aren’t even brave enough to try to achieve the things we desire for fear of being laughed at or failing. And it’s not that Anthony’s delusional; he understands his timeline in wrestling. He’s a Junior in college when he loses to McDonough so he has one more shot to win the title in his final Senior year. And he does. It’s down to him and McDonough again in the finals. He’s learned from the mistakes he made the last time they wrestled and achieves an incredible win. Early on in the movie, Anthony declares that the best college wrestlers in the world go to Iowa. Well, he just beat an Iowa wrestler and finished first place.

Near the end of the movie before his big win, his mother shows him letters from kids who have written to him telling him how much they look up to him. They share how they’re not afraid to pursue their dreams after watching him. While Anthony thinks that he’s running out of time to be someone, he’s unknowingly impacted others and inspired them to dream. The revelation of these letters leads Judy to tell her son he’s unstoppable. He’s shown everybody, including her, that anything is possible. There’s a moment in the locker room when Coach Shawn takes a moment to recognize Anthony in front of the whole team. He emotionally acknowledges his mistake doubting Anthony’s abilities: “I failed to realize who you were. I didn’t really understand your character…I see you now.” I’m so glad this movie is out so that we can all see Anthony and use his story to motivate ourselves. He’s a reminder that whenever we’re ready to make excuses we can tell ourselves there’s probably somebody out there with less advantages than you who’s doing the work and achieving great things. If you focus on what you have and not what you’re missing and push past your insecurities, you’ll be unstoppable too.