Review of Zion

By Dave B.

​Zion (Netflix) is a documentary short-film about Zion Clark, a wrestler who was born without legs. The film details his struggles of growing up in abusive foster homes until he was adopted at age 16, his initial alienation from his classmates at Massillon High School (in Ohio), and how wrestling enabled him to overcome troubles in his past and forge a better future for himself. 

​Zion packs a lot of emotional content into 11 minutes. Most obviously, Zion’s ability not only to wrestle, but to also have a great deal of success doing so, speaks to a level of dedication and perseverance that’s hard to imagine. Even more impressively (and importantly, from my perspective) Zion helped me to overcome my own subconscious discomfort with Zion’s condition. Any film that can help someone realize, acknowledge, and begin to overcome their own baseless discomfort at someone’s body is a film that is worth watching, regardless of its length.

​With all of the general horribleness going on in America and the world right now, a movie like Zion provides a welcome and refreshing perspective check. If we work hard and never give up, we can accomplish anything, both individually and collectively. That’s a message that I needed to be reminded of and if you think that you need to be reminded of it too, I definitely suggest that you take the time to watch this film.  

Rating: 7/10