Directed by: Alex Gibney.
Written by: Alex Gibney.
Director
Alex Gibney is a smart guy. Since his breakthrough film in 2005 – Enron: The
Smartest Guys in the Room – he has also been the most prolific documentary
filmmaker I can think of – making a series of feature documentaries, as well as
documentaries for TV and as part of omnibus films – ranging from political
films to sports films to the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church to portraits
of artists and writers to his last film before The Armstrong Lie – We Steal
Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks. We seemingly cannot go a year without at least
one new Gibney film coming out – often more than that. He won an Oscar for Taxi
to the Dark Side – which is a great film in itself, even if I think his Eliot
Spitzer documentary, Client 9, or the Enron doc are even better. In short,
Gibney has made a nice career for himself as a documentary filmmaker – often
telling stories about people who are liars. That was one of my problems with
The Armstrong Lie – which is basically a fine documentary, albeit a none too surprising
one. In 2009 Gibney was given access to Armstrong and his team as he attempted
his comeback at the Tour de France after three years away. Armstrong wanted to
win again, and erase all doubt that he cheated by using performance enhancing
drugs – and Gibney says he wholeheartedly believed Armstrong – and felt
betrayed when it was proven that Armstrong did in fact cheat – not just in 2009
but in all his Tour de France victories. My question is this: Did anyone really
“wholeheartedly” believe in Armstrong in 2009? There was already enough
evidence to at least cast doubt – and certainly someone like Gibney, who made
many docs about liars, should have at least been suspicious.
The
film jumps around in time – perhaps a little too much – from 2009 when Gibney
had more access than anyone else to Armstrong (still not complete, as Armstrong
and his handlers try desperately to control his public image) to the aftermath
of the final proof that Armstrong did in fact cheat, and his interview with
Oprah where Armstrong came kind of clean – but still justified everything he
did by basically saying “Well everyone else did it. I just did it better”. And
then we also flashback to the 1990s as Armstrong battles back from cancer, and
to his various other Tour de France victories – and all the allegations that
followed each and every one. Basically the film becomes a portrait of a man who
lies nearly constantly – and his lies are so big and so bold that many people
believe them. They believe them because they want to believe them. It’s too
good a story for a cancer survivor to come back from death’s door to become one
of the greatest athletes on the planet not to want to believe it. Which, of
course, is precisely why we shouldn’t have believed it in the first place.
Armstrong isn’t even that good of a liar – he freezes, he pauses, he gets
overly defensive, his smile seems phony. Of course, I say that in retrospect
when we know he’s lying, but there are plenty of people who didn’t believe him
Armstrong the whole time. After all, if everyone else who finishes near the top
of the Tour de France is caught cheating – and they all were – how the hell
could Armstrong not be cheating? How much better can he possibly be?
Rare
for a Gibney movie, he places himself in the thick of the action for this film.
He isn’t normally a Michael Moore type who thrusts himself into the movie, but
although we don’t see Gibney often, we hear him a lot – and this is not typical
third person documentary narration, but very personal narration. Gibney is mad
because Armstrong looked him in the eye and lied to him – and because Gibney
believed that lie and now feels betrayed. Gibney’s personal narrative in the
film didn’t interest me much – mainly because I didn’t buy it. However, there
is a bigger story here about Armstrong, lying and the culture of professional
sports where the attitude has become win at all costs. We were probably naïve
to think it was ever anything but win at all costs – but I don’t think we can
anymore. The Armstrong Lie isn’t one of Gibney’s best documentaries – but it’s
a fascinating one just the same. Besides, I’m sure they’ll be another Gibney
doc along any minute now. Maybe that one will rank higher.
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