This documentary is about the recent Russian doping debacle. It starts with Bryan Fogel, an amateur bike racer and film maker wanting to see if doping would make him better in a major amateur bike race in France called the Haute Route, a seven day race through the mountains that is incredibly difficult. The first time he competes he is totally clean. There are 400 racers and he hopes to finish in the top 100. He finishes 14th but that is not good enough as he sees he is well below the standard of the top 10 and he wants now to be among them. He is also aware now of Lance Armstrong’s story and he wants to see if he can, like Armstrong use doping to advance his performance and not be caught. So he recruits Grigory Rodchenkov a Russian physician and doping expert in the Russian anti-doping lab to help him. Its really just planning to be a film about how doping works and if it works and the first part of the film takes us through the injections, urine collection and finally the race. Sadly while the doping likely improved Fogel’s physical ability his bike develops mechanical problems and he finishes well down in the standings. However the film now takes a sinister turn and he and Rodchenkov actually become part of the exposure of the Russian doping plot that has led ultimately to the banning of athletes in Rio and most currently in Korea. The story is told very well and you will learn a great deal about how doping works, how it can be hidden, how it can only be exposed by those involved and how dangerous it can be to cross Vladimir Putin. I must admit I watched the whole thing… all over 2 hours of it… which to be honest was too long by far. For this reason, I would not want to see it win the Oscar but it was very interesting and damn it, I did watch the whole thing. If you are interested in athletics and politics this is the film for you.
This is a somewhat unusual documentary. It is a very personal protest against the way in which MS is treated and how the pharmaceutical industry and the MS Society actually prey on victims of the disease and those who would help to fight it through charitable donations. MS is a complex and poorly understood illness that is treated with some powerful drugs by many neurologists while others support diet and exercise as alternatives. The director himself has a diagnosis of MS and so far, has done well by avoiding drug treatments and relying on diet and exercise. Sadly there is little long term research on the methods and effectiveness of various approaches. Embry argues in the film that such studies are discouraged by the pharmaceutical industry because evidence that their treatments are not effective in the long term would hurt them financially as would proof of alternative methods. Of course, the other aspect of the illness is its unpredictable prognosis. Some people decline rapidly while others appear to survive for many years with no significant symptoms and with no treatment. The lack of research is a huge problem that could be addressed by charitable associations like the MS Society but… there is another issue. The fact is that the MS Society solicits millions of dollars but spends over 80% on salaries and marketing and only 16% on research. A fact that Embry makes very clear. He has set up an alternative charity – MS Hope – that promotes his alternative approach to care but also does not have much more than anecdotal evidence to support it. I had mixed feelings about this film but it did convince me that charities like the MS Society are compromised, that we really can’t trust the pharmaceutical industry to look out for out best interests and we really need to fund some serious long-term studies on MS and MS treatments. I suspect this movie might have a limited audience unfortunately
I had mixed feelings about this movie. It is a powerful film full of stories about many different people. The main focus is on two men who return to their homes in Mississippi after serving over 4 years in the Second World War. One is black and served as a tank commander, the other white and served as a bomber pilot. Both suffer from some form of post traumatic stress. They return to a viciously racist society that they had left behind when they were in Europe. On their return they bond over their previous war experience and the feeling of being cut off and exiled in their country and their homes. But there are several other stories going on in support of these two. All the stories are good and well done but to be honest there is just too much for a movie like this. After a while the movie started to drag and became hard to watch. In the end, and although the ending is not tragic, thank God, I was exhausted. Dee Rees was there for the Q and A and was articulate and helpful in understanding the overall story. She admitted that the story was huge and that she wanted to blend many aspects of life at the time for blacks and the poor white farmers and the omnipresent racist tensions. So… a good movie but sadly flawed by over-reaching.
Movies: Rants and Raves 