I like this topic, in the last couples of years I read and watched some stuff about doping and I had hopes to get more and new information. This documentary leaves me with unsatisfied but also confused. First it's a super-szie-me-experiment which is strange, because we know drugs can enhance your performance. But it didn't work for our moviemaker. Then it's not the point of that story, because suddenly it's all about this Russian lab director Rodchenkov. And then again there is this huge conspiracy of state sponsored doping and it's all connected to Rodchenkov and Putin. On the one hand this show wants you to tell he is victim because the Russian state is evil, on the other hand he is a mastermind, well he was called mastermind and he didn't correct it. His role in planning and execution is not really clear. A lot of the interviews with Rodchenkov are simplified. This show is flashy and a lot of phrases you will hear can be used in a trailer. But there is not much of content, nothing you couldn't read in the newspapers. So there is no research in this work, just some public statements and footage by the moviemaker. This guy never worked as a investigative journalist, so you don't get deep digging. And this whole conspiracy is build around Rodchenkov. But what if he didn't tell the whole truth, history has shown some people will tell all kind of stories. And this guy working for decades for the purest evil suddenly turns away and is now the good guy. And it all started because some American moviemaker needed a doc and a lab to do some stupid stuff and then they become friends and together they uncover a dark conspiracy and all this in a time when the cold war is raising again and they fight each other on any field. This show leaves you with a lot of unanswered questions but gives you their view on who is evil and who is the good guy. Maybe this whole issue about state sponsored and individual doping is much more complex, but this show is just a starting point for you to go deeper and learn more about it.
Oh and then there is this cheesy part about George Orwell. Sometimes less is more.
Oh and then there is this cheesy part about George Orwell. Sometimes less is more.