In 2009 Alex Gibney (Mea Maxima Culpa) was hired to make a film about Lance Armstrong's comeback to cycling. The project was shelved when the doping scandal erupted, and re-opened after Armstrong's confession.
The Armstrong Lie picks up in 2013 and presents a riveting, insider's view of the unravelling of one of the most extraordinary stories in the history of sport. As Lance Armstrong himself says: "I didn't live a lot of lies, but I lived one big one."
It is lazy to reproduce a blurb in a review, but unless you're already interested in Lance Armstrong/cycling/the doping scandal, I am not sure there is anything I can say that would encourage you to go see this documentary. And if you are interested in Lance Armstrong/cycling/the doping scandal, I wouldn't want to reveal the precious few pieces of information this film might offer that you don't already know.
It is clear why the film was made. As the blurb says, it began in 2009 to cover Armstrong and his bid to reclaim past glories, and subsequently shelved as the doping scandal, which had been brewing for years, finally spilled over.
I do find it odd that the filmmaker would chose to shelve the project in light of this. Who could have been better placed to pursue an exclusive film of Armstrong during the actual scandal. But perhaps, as is admitted during the film, the directors own affection for the cyclist dissuaded him; or perhaps Armstrong declined any attempt to continue filming.
The film is only picked up again after Armstrong's Oprah confession, which means a follow up interview between Lance and the director.
This should be interesting, but for me only served to slightly confuse the timeline of events. There are a number of talking head interviews with Armstrong that are only dated the first time they appear, so it was only by paying attention to the background – 2013, books and slightly longer hair, 2009, no books and slightly shorter hair – that I could tell when it was from. This was compounded by the fact that Armstrong isn't saying much different in 2013 than he is in 2009.
The 2009 Tour de France footage is interesting, but it consumes most of the two-hour running time, and for a film that had intended to play as Armstrong's return to victory, there is a lot you don't see. I would have loved to be on the bus, pre- or post-race; particularly as throughout the race, and the film, the question of "Is Armstrong riding clean this time?" looms large. The access the film crew had actually seems quite limited.
The most interesting aspect of the whole documentary, and this is were I wish to be careful about revealing too much, is the reason people have been so aggrieved by Lance Armstrong and how little impact that has apparently had on the man himself.
The Armstrong Lie plays at the QFT from Friday 31 Jan to Thursday 06 February.
