Atleta A

A well done documentary that unfortunately will taint my view of US Gymnastics forever. Such amazing courage was put on display against the back drop of sexual AND coaching abuse of gymnasts.

It's tough to know how to evaluate Athlete A. I tend to be someone who rates/ranks movies based on my enjoyment of a film, but there is nothing to "enjoy" here. Athlete A is the kind of film that made me sob in tears and want to put my fist through someone's face. It gave me chills of horror and fits of anger (amplified by the fact that some of the vile events discussed in it took place mere minutes from where I live.) None of these are pleasant emotions, but the fact that I felt them so intensely is a sign that the filmmakers did their job. I have nothing but appreciation for the skill that went into presenting the story of the awful things that went on behind the scenes of US Olympic Gymnastics for decades.

Athlete A is a movie that needed to be made, about a story that people need to know, but it is also a sensitive topic that will be hard (perhaps impossible) for some viewers to watch. I will say, while the details of what went on are discussed without holding back, there is some tact in the way it is presented. It's a tough balance, but I think they did a great job. The film tackles the subject from 2 different angles. One side is presenting the way the story was broken by a newspaper, and how that led to countless victims coming forward to form the case against this predatory "doctor." The other aspect of the film is a series of one-on-one interviews with some of the victims and their families as they discuss what happened.

You have to applaud all these young women who came forward and were willing to relive devastating moments in their lives. They display such strength and maturity that it is truly inspiring. Of course, the more you admire these women, the more angry you get at those who victimized them, those who played a part in allowing it to happen, and those involved in covering up the truth. This is a blight on USA gymnastics, and makes me sick when I recall watching Olympic events and seeing those faces on the sidelines. There's no doubt that Athlete A tells the truth in a powerful way, and I'm grateful that some filmmakers were skilled enough to do this story justice. They share the ugly truth in Athlete A so that others can learn from what happened to these girls, and hopefully we can avoid situations like this in the future.

This documentary hit Netflix today and I had the chance to watch Athlete A and here is my review for it. The premise of the film documents the real story of Dr Larry Nassar and how he molested young gymnastics for 30 years and how US Athletics covered it up.

Now this film deals with a really intense and disturbing subject matter and it does it really well. As you learn more and more you realise just how disgusting and horrific the actions by Nassar was and just how badly run the US Gymnastics was and how they aided this pedophile which is just truly horrifying.

The thing that makes this really awful, is that by all accounts Nassar seemed like a nice guy and the nicest guy at US Athletics. But he used this to break all the trust issues that there was and let him commit these horrible acts and it is so satisfying seeing him get taken down.

But this film did have some negatives and it is mostly due to it's pacing. I felt like there was some background information that was presented here that didn't add that much to the story. It would have been fine for a mini series but this is only a 1 hour 45 film so it dawdles at times when it shouldn't be. Also if feels like it skips over the really interesting parts involved in this whole case.

Also, obviously seeing all these gymnasts revealing their stories are highly emotional I just wish they could of got Simone Biles to take part. She revealed to the court that she was a victim and with her being the most famous gymnast in the world it would have added more star power here.

Overall, this is a good documentary with a disturbing subject matter. But it has some pacing issues which hurts it and would have maybe been better as a mini series.

Rating - 7/10.

This was a good documentary but I feel it was done in a very basic way. It is hard to describe.

It is horrible what happened. The corruption is unimaginable. What transpired over 29 years - it is impossible to fathom how that was possible.

The story is absolutely unbelievable, unimaginable, and impossible to make up.

Conclusion: definitely worth watching and recommending.

9/10 - good documentary; recommend it.

These women were ignored, destroyed, ignored again and they still came back and got justice and peace unfortunately it took hundreds of victims to get there