Icarus (2017)

Winner of the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, Icarus is a round about kind of story, I was frankly bored by the first 30 minutes but was riveted over the course of the following hour and a half. Film maker Bryan Fogel was a committed amateur competitive cyclist and one time big fan of Lance Armstrong. Disillusioned when Armstrong finally admitting his doping, and convinced that his best performing competitors in amateur races were doing the same, Fogel hit upon an idea for a documentary. The director decided that he too would dope, see how much his performance improved and if he could get away with it and film the whole thing. In process of so doing Fogel came into contact with Greigory Rodchenkov, head of the Russian Anti-Doping Lab, who quite suspiciously given his official job, offered to help Fogel come up with an undetectable drug regiment to beat the system. Lots of Skype conversations and trips to one another's countries followed and Fogel and Rodchenkov became friends, and good thing too because when the more the proverbial noose started to descend on Rodchenkovs neck following the fallout from the Sochi Games Greigory needed to get out of Russia in a hurry.

Fogel helped Rodchenkov get out of the country, and subsequently get his story out and amnesty in the United States. The Russian doctor snuck a lot of incriminating files out with him and is the man most responsibility for The Russian Federations effective ban from the 2016 summer games. Today Greigory Rodchenkov is in the federal witness protection problem. While Rodchenkov certainly did some unethical things it is hard not to like him as he has a mostly upbeat attitude and quirky sense of humor in spite of everything. A one time athlete himself Rodcenkov wanted more then anything to be around sport, that directed his career trajectory and the force of institutional gravity pulled him to gaming the system. While Russian meddling has sadly become something of a political issue in the United States, if you divorce it from left or right and simply look at what Putin and company were willing to condone, up to and including murder, to keep an edge on sporting competition it should make you shudder. A unique and fascinating film, sport related documentaries are not usually my kind of thing but this one really won me over. ****