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They call it the Death Tour — “the hardest tour there is in sports,” according to one combatant. No doubt. No four-star hotels or restaurants here.

This tour featuring decidedly quirky pro wrestlers has been taking place every winter across remote Indigenous communities in the frozen tundra of northern Manitoba for the last 50 years.

If the elements, the exhaustion and the hits in the ring (no matter how contrived) don’t take their toll on the fighters, their emotions often do. The wrestlers often get personally involved in the lives of their young audiences, who come from villages that are hit hard by poverty and suicide. The performers, many of whom are Indigenous, can easily relate.

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The Death Tour is something of a misnomer, as it brings life to the communities it visits. The wrestlers offer a respite from young fans’ isolation, which is further intensified by harsh winters.

The Death Tour is also the title of an uplifting, surprisingly touching documentary by the Montreal tandem of writer-director Stephan Peterson and producer Stacey Tenenbaum. Among those featured in the doc is Chicoutimi native Sarah McNicoll, a francophone whose mane of ginger hair led to her ring name, McKenrose the Scottish Warrior.

Peterson, Tenenbaum and McNicoll, among others involved in the film, will all be on hand for a screening Thursday at 9 p.m. at Cinéma du Parc, followed by what should be a lively Q&A session. This is the latest stop on what has been a sold-out national tour.

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McNicoll is typical of many of the wrestlers on the tour, who often have dealt with a range of personal demons. In her teen years, she was intent on becoming an Olympic short-track speedskater, but she had to forgo that dream because she lived too far away from training centres and money was an issue. She was later beset by drug and drink issues and bad relationships, before finding herself in the ring.

McNicoll is equally adept at taking on men and women in the ring. Outside the ring on tour, she is a fan favourite, with gaggles of young girls clinging on to her.

“Wrestling completely changed my life,” she says in an interview. “I was broken. I needed a challenge in my life. I needed to get out of my comfort zone and find myself. I found it here, with both the physical and theatrical parts of it. I was so shy before, but wrestling allowed me to push my limits and to go to places I never dreamed of visiting.”

An ex-boyfriend with some experience in the ring encouraged McNicoll to try wrestling.

“It was not anything I had ever thought of doing, but the love I was shown was so overwhelming, not just from the kids but from my fellow wrestlers as well. I’m ready to go back again any time,” adds McNicoll, who works as a veterinary technician in Chicoutimi when not ‘rassling.

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No surprise that the wrestling world would be right up producer Tenenbaum’s alley, elbow drops and jackhammer moves and all. She has been drawn to arcane subjects in docs like Shiners and Pipe Dreams, about the worlds of shoe shiners and competitive pipe organists respectively.

“I grew up with wrestling here in the ‘70s and the local heroes then associated with the sport, like the famed Rougeau wrestling family. So when Stephan (Peterson) told me about the Death Tour, I couldn’t resist,” says Tenenbaum, who co-produced this doc with longtime associate Sergeo Kirby.

Peterson was instantly smitten when he caught the Death Tour while living in a remote town in northern Manitoba.

“I totally stumbled upon it about eight years ago while working on another project,” he recalls. “I heard that wrestling was coming to this town, and there was nothing else going on in the place, so I had to go see this.

“I was never a wrestling fan, but I got totally intrigued. Who are these wrestlers? Why are they doing it? Upon further exploration, I discovered these really incredible people who were sacrificing everything to chase a dream. But it was the connection between the community and the wrestlers that really inspired me.”

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So Peterson signed on to document a tour.

“It was just so unforgettable, especially the interaction between the kids and wrestlers or among the wrestlers themselves. And it was more than just the wrestling, as the wrestlers would address the kids with their personal experiences about the dangers of drugs and bullying,” adds Peterson, who co-directed the doc with Sonya Ballantyne. “There was just so much about this story that totally moved me.”

AT A GLANCE

The Death Tour screens Thursday, Sept. 5 at 9 p.m. at Cinéma du Parc, 3575 Parc Ave., followed by a Q&A with Stephan Peterson, Stacey Tenenbaum, Sarah McNicoll and others. For more information, visit cinemaduparc.com or call 514-281-1900.

An abbreviated 44-minute version of the film is now streaming on CBC Gem. The feature-length version will air Sept. 28 at 7 p.m. on APTN.

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