The Armstrong Lie

Gibney filmed an excellent, many-layered documentary, the weakness of which lies paradoxically in Gibney himself. If as a documentary maker he summarizes and puts into context Armstrong’s rich (in controversy) career and behind the scenes of professional cycling, he excels and looks at everything from various angles. But he fails in the one-to-one passages, when he had unprecedented access to Lance before (2009/2010) and after (2013) and got nothing from it. Before he was taken in by the powerful comeback story and after he avoided confrontation and difficult questions. He does try to make up for this with “thought settling" commentary, but the horse had already bolted; he should have stood up with that on set. But maybe this is a woeful consequence of the fact that this was released barely six months after Lance’s confession. In any case, Armstrong and cycling (fascinating how all convicted former cyclists point their finger, but never assume any responsibility) extraordinarily rewarding, colorful subjects for a documentary filmmaker and the end result reflects that. (23.02.2014)

I admire this film not so much because it is a great documentary work, but it is a film that can reveal the essence of a symbol at times. This is a great deconstruction, which is also cut in a way to have an emotional impact on the viewer. You can think what you want about Lance, but the legend will simply no longer be him. (24.07.2016)