Netflix Documentary Showcase, Part 3 - Bigger, Stronger, Faster

For the most part, people don't remember documentaries that follow conventional wisdom or that reinforce what they already know. That's why many feature length documentary directors try to shock or surprise you with interesting arguments - what you thought was bad is actually good, and vice versa.

A prime example is "Bigger, Stronger, Faster*," which takes a contrarian stance on the whole steroids-in-sports controversy:



Director Christopher Bell and his two brothers are anabolic steroid users, and they talk candidly about why and how they use the drugs. A lot of the conventional information about steroids is debunked (or at least challenged) - mostly concerning their side effects (the documentary argues that the side effects have been distorted and exaggerated by the media). There are also pretty strong arguments that a lot of Americans - not just athletes - are using drugs to enhance performance (Ritalin abuse by students, for instance), but that anabolic steroids are unfairly singled out.

While it was a bit out of place, the best segment in the documentary showed how mind-bogglingly easy it is to get into the booming health supplement industry - a sort of Wild West where you can stuff anything into a pill and get it to market. The whole things was crazy enough that it made me wish for some regulation, despite my libertarian leanings.

Rating: 7/10