Bigger, Stronger, Faster: The Side Effects of Being an American

I passed on seeing Bigger Stronger Faster when it opened the Hot Docs festival in Toronto some weeks ago because the subject didn’t sound interesting to me. A documentary about the horrors of steroid abuse and their corruption of professional sports? Yeah, whatever. But debuting filmmaker Chris Bell has created something considerably more noteworthy than another cautionary film.

First off, he is more qualified than most to investigate the subject. Bell and his brothers grew up in the 1980s when, he notes, “There was an explosion of ass kicking in America.” Ronald Reagan’s simple-minded jingoism inspired an era of brainless beefcake heroes like Hulk Hogan, Sylvester Stallone, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, “the ultimate ass kicker.” They became role models for Bell and his brothers, born to a family inclined to plus sizes. All became involved in wrestling and weight lifting, and all dabbled in steroids as a way of keeping up with changing standards. While Chris Bell stopped after a few jabs of the needle, his brothers continue to use steroids to this day, and their family discussions are some of the most poignant moments in the film.

But just as you assume that you know where Bell, who has clearly studied the audience-friendly documentaries of Michael Moore and Morgan Spurlock, is headed, he heads for different and deeper territory.

The real subject of his interest is the underlying currents that make steroids so popular, and maybe even inevitable to American culture—and do these are deep waters indeed. While Bell didn’t like using steroids himself, he’s not able to condemn his brothers for using them. He lets pro-steroid experts testify that claims of abuse are based more on media and politician-induced hysteria than actual facts. And he explores the ubiquity of “performance enhancers” of all kinds, not just in sports but in just about every aspect of American life. Did Tiger Woods’ Lasik eye surgery, which gave him better than “perfect” eyesight of 20-15, give him an unfair advantage in a sport where depth perception is crucial? Should classical musicians be allowed to use beta blockers to combat stage fright? Is it sensible to act otherwise when, as George C. Scott barks in a clip from Patton, “Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser”? More interested in provoking questions in his viewers than in ramming his opinions down their throats (the film appropriately ends with a metal version of the old Genesis song “Land of Confusion”), Bell has made a compelling and provocative movie that only pretends to be limited to sports.