Review of Icarus (2017) by Gavinuk123 — 15 Mar 2018

Icarus is an interesting look into the murky world of doping in sports but as a documentary the result is mixed at best.

Fogel is an amature cyclist and wants to take performance enhancing drugs to prove the benefits and evade detection from the authorities. This effort takes him to Grigory Rodchenkov, the director of Moscow’s Anti-Doping Centre for advice. Here the documentary finally gets going after a dull start and takes a dramatic turn towards an expose of Russian state sponsored doping.

Rodchenkov, who moves to the U.S, becomes the centerpiece of the documentary and gives us an inside look at the extent of doping in sports. The apparent mastermind behind the doping programme blows the whistle on the level of doping and involvement of the Russian state. The information is detailed with animated scenes bringing to life the KGB’s apparent involvement in unscrewing and switching urine samples. How do we know this what really happened though? Fogel, rather than placing himself at the centre of the action, would be better behind the scenes, challenging the information and digging deep to get to the truth. Does Rodchenkov tell the whole truth? Is there contradictions in his testimony? Fogel throughout seems swept away by Rodchenkov and builds a story around one man whose story may change in years to come.

Rather than a documentary on the effects of doping in sports, initially being investigated, attention is drawn away to how far up the ladder does this conspiracy go. Fogel again does not seem able to challenge or critically analyse the narrative set by Rodchenkov as the the documentary turns towards Putin. A man who cheated the system and then invaded Ukraine on a Sochi Winter Olympics high..! Random footage of Putin looking conspiratorial may give a lasting impression to those who buy into the narrative to its conclusion, for others the message is not entirely convincing.