Icarus

Icarus won Best Documentary Feature at the Academy Awards this year for producers Bryan Fogel and Dan Cogan. I found it an interesting title for a film that exposes the doping of Olympic athletes in Russia. (Icarus is the man in Greek mythology who flew too close to the sun, and plunged to his death.) The film is rated TV-MA, and I watched it on Netflix.

The film begins with a quote from George Orwell: “During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.”

Filmmaker Bryan Fogel has been an avid bicyclist for many years. He decided to see if his performance on a grueling cycling course through France would be improved by drugging up with testosterone and human growth hormone among other substances. He is subsequently referred to a Russian, head of the lab that tests for chemicals in athletes’ urine, Grigory Rodchenkov. He agrees to help Fogel with his project and the documentary is born.

Fogel and Rodchenkov develop a friendship while Rodchenkov gives him pointers on how to give himself injections and in what amounts to improve his athletic skills. Rodchenkov even tests his urine, as they would do in Russia. Sadly, all the drugs and training don’t seem to make a difference when Fogel competes in the race in France.

Rodchenkov though is willing to spill all about the systematic doping of Russian athletes, and thus continues this engrossing documentary. You need to sit through the early part where Fogel does his regime of therapies, and then the film turns into a sort of political thriller.

Interestingly, throughout the film Rodchenkov is reading George Orwell’s 1984 and referring to it as he describes his experience working for the Russian government. His role was to enhance athletes’ performance in a state supported doping program, and to then assist in a cover-up of what they were doing so that World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) would not find out.

Icarus documents an expose of a program that has been in place for decades to enhance the performance of Olympic athletes of Russia. This ultimately led to Rodchenkov having to go into hiding at the recommendation of the United States Department of Justice.

I hope most athletes despise drug enhancements during competition. There should be an equal playing field just based on one’s strength and natural abilities. But when a political regime comes into the picture that wants to show superiority of their people, that’s when calculated deceit comes into play.

The documentary film itself was really well done. The cinematography and music in between actual interviews is beautiful, and keeps the viewer from becoming bored with straight question and answer sessions. I appreciated the film’s artistic quality that enhanced the entire experience.

The ending quote of the film is: “This film is dedicated to whistleblowers, who seek truth over consequences, and to clean athletes everywhere who choose to play by the rules.” I think you would find this an interesting documentary whether you follow sports or not.