Icarus

One of the movies up for an Oscar on Sunday is the documentary Icarus. While it starts out as a biking movie, after the first act that story peters out for the larger, accidental, story that it becomes.

In the film, filmaker Bryan Fogel decides to do an experiment on himself - similar to Supersize me - by competing in the Haute Route, an annual event in that Alps that he described as “the single hardest amateur bike race in the world." It's sort of an every man's Tour de France, and like the Tour, PED's are illegal and supposedly tested for (he said they actually were not). He would do it one year "clean" and the next all roided up. 

His experiment is a bit of a flop. The first year he does pretty well, but feels like the top few athletes are on a whole other level, and implies that they are doping. The next year he dopes under a program designed by a Russian doctor, Grigory Rodchenkov, who runs that country's anti-doping program. He has regular check ups to make sure he's healthy and he does all the things a doping athlete will do. Despite feeling much stronger and like he has more stamina, he actually does worse in the race the next time (in part due to mechanical issues, but also the doping didn't seem to help him as much as he'd hoped). He was pretty disappointed. 

But he stumbled onto a great story. Rodchenkov, who is hysterical and utterly likeable, turns out to be the man at the center of the whole Russian doping scandal. Fogel and the Rodchenkov become friends and when Rodchenkov decides to escape Russia it's to Fogel's home that he comes, and this is what the story is really about. 

I liked it, but it will make you wonder if any of the sports you've ever watched have been free of cheaters. I mean, even a curler tested positive for doping this year.

Comments

[Adam]

It's a pretty enjoyable flick-- engaging story, fun characters, slick production. I saw it with friends who aren't into bikes, and they liked it.

[CJones]

what an incredible documentary. I'm pulling for it!