The Case for Being the Bestest

My first film at the 37^th Wellington Film Festival was a documentary, the after-asterisked Bigger, Stronger, Faster*, the asterisk drawing attention to the sub-title *The Side Effects of Being American.

No surprise then that the film is a very Ameri-centric view of the world of taking performance enhancing drugs. Director Christopher Bell’s particular drug bug bear is the standard steroid, and while at first his movie seems to pursue the “is it really that dangerous” track, it slowly becomes clear that this is the wrong question.

Steroids are a drug, and like coffee, alcohol, tobacco and marijuana, its harmful effects depend on the amount taken and the biological and psychological makeup of the individual. “Almost everyone” is taking steroids, a handy pie graph (based on conjecture, I imagine) pointing out that there are plenty used in medications for the ill, lots used for personal performance improvement, and only a small wedge used by professional athletes. It is the final group that have made steroids “bad” in that they are used to cheat, to enhance the individual’s performance beyond what would be possible normally – and so it is little wonder that in competitive sports, there is the wide-held belief that everyone is on the junk.

The professionals either deny they take them, get around the tests (sometimes assisted), promote supplements and modes of living that only partly explain their performance or physique, and then blame everyone else for pushing them to it (or claiming everyone is naïve) when they get caught. But the rewards for taking them and not getting caught (and sometimes even after they get caught) are obvious, and incredibly enticing to those who look up to them.

Bell’s brothers are (or were) regular steroid users. They use(d) them to get bigger and stronger, to be the best. And during the course of the film, the same theme comes up again and again. Everyone loves a winner, and everyone aspires to be a winner. And to be a winner, you have to do what it takes.

Except, that’s not what the winners say. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the patron saint of bodybuilders, comes up again and again. His physique inspired a generation of young men to go to the gym and get buff. And when it was revealed that he was assisted in attaining that physique through the liberal use of steroids, then for those following in his trail, it is good enough for them too. But now Schwarzenegger says steroids are bad, even though they helped get him to where he is, and even though the bodybuilding competition named in his honour does not test for drugs.

It’s the hypocrisy of the whole scene which is fascinating, and saddening. Truly heartbreaking, though, are the emotional confessions of Bell’s brother and mother, and when Bell pauses to consider the mixed messages inherent in the support and unconditional love they provide to his younger brother using his steroidally-enhanced strength to attain a personal record.

From what I saw (and felt myself), the audience really enjoyed this film. Bell gives a fairly balanced and occasionally humorous view of the issues, though very few women or more impartial people seem to make it into his interviewing eye. The ending though is fairly sobering, calling to question Americans’ (in particular) and the USA’s (in general) obsession with winning through means fair or foul – though always claiming to be fair and honourable – and questioning what that says about the most powerful nation on earth.

Verdict: A really thought provoking film, Bigger, Stronger, Faster* makes one think about the powerful and ordinary people in new ways, just as a good documentary should. 4.5 milligrams of juice out of 5.