The hubris . . . the hubris.
In 2009, acclaimed documentarian Alex Gibney (“Taxi to the Dark Side”) set out to make a movie about Lance Armstrong’s return to the Tour de France. Afterward — well, you’re probably aware of the Oprah interview. The one in which he admitted that, yes, he had been doping all along.
Gibney went back to his duplicitous subject to demand another interview, and the truth. Armstrong was game. The result is this fascinating, if overlong, examination of the psychology of lying and the culture of doping that dominated the sport of professional biking for decades. “We just said, ‘We have to play ball here, or go home,’ ” Armstrong says of his discovery that everyone else who mattered — he claims — was taking performance-enhancing drugs already.
By virtue of becoming a global star, and a charity magnate with his LiveStrong foundation, Armstrong came under intense scrutiny. His prowess, particularly as a cancer survivor, always seemed too good to be true. But, as various experts point out, early tests weren’t good enough at finding EPO, the drug prescribed by Armstrong’s stunningly sketchy Italian trainer. Gibney has assembled a vast array of footage of Armstrong vehemently denying drug use, and viciously lashing out at his critics. It suggests acting might be a good second career for the athlete (who’s been banned from pro biking for life).
Admitting he got sucked into the Lance mania and became, at points during the race, “just another f - - king fan,” Gibney sometimes seems to want to forgive: Everyone was doing it, the movie points out repeatedly. Lance just did it the most dramatically.
The director also seems to be determined not to waste the footage he took of the 2009 event, and gets bogged down showing Armstrong, who would only place third, slogging through it. The point Gibney’s making — that one day on the tour showed Armstrong with a highly improbable “clean” jump in performance — could have been made far more concisely.
Overall, Gibney does a fine job documenting the timeless nature of Armstrong’s fall from grace. It’s undeniably satisfying to see the man himself lay it out: “It’s very hard to control the truth forever,” he says, awkwardly. “This has been my downfall.”