Bigger Stronger Faster*: The Side Effects of Being American

"Why take steroids when you can take the bus?"

Pay no attention to the cumbersome title: Bigger Stronger Faster*: The Side Effects of Being American is one of the most elegant and expertly constructed documentaries I’ve seen in some time. Christopher Bell — champion powerlifter, erstwhile WWF scriptwriter, gym rat — begins with a touchingly personal exploration of his family’s disturbing history with steroids and deftly uses that as a starting point for a wise, engaging, and astoundingly comprehensive look at the steroid “controversy” as a whole. The usual assortment of talking heads, cartoon illustrations and archival clips is present and accounted for, but rarely are they cut together this well.

Bell and his two brothers have been strength freaks almost since they could walk. Weaned on professional wrestling and early Arnold Schwarzenegger, they became convinced that human greatness is epitomized by physical power. By the time he was in high school, Chris Bell was one of the strongest teenagers in America, and his brothers weren’t far behind. Now, Bell, in his early 30′s, is largely a recreational lifter; his younger brother Mike still competes actively; his older brother Mark wants desperately to become a pro wrestling superstar despite his advancing age. Oh, and while Mark and Mike openly use anabolic staroids, Bell can’t bring himself to do it, even as he watches himself fall behind his siblings. He can’t shake the feeling that it’s wrong, somehow, but he isn’t sure why that should be — and neither, as Bigger Stronger Faster shows, is anyone else, including the folks hauling baseball players before Congressional committees.

The film delves into Chris’s — and many of ours’ — overpowering but uncertain instinct that steroid use is unethical in competition, and undesirable recreationally. Through compassionate but deceptively searing interviews with his family he gets at the notion that some steroid use is borne of insecurity and desperation; in the case of his brothers, the desire to escape stifling suburban mediocrity and reach for something more. Through a series of ingenious analogies and illustrations he explains why the hysteria over steroids doesn’t make a whole lot of sense — why is it, for example, that Tiger Woods can have Lasik surgery to give him nearly superhuman vision while hormone therapy is branded cheating? And through archival footage, narration, and a bit of fancy footwork, he demonstrates that a number of the public figures pushing the steroids-are-evil line — including Arnold Schwarzenegger, who famously used them — are hypocrites, uninformed, or both. (The interview with Rep. Henry Waxman, a Democrat from California, is just astounding — the man is a breathtaking imbecile.)

I’m amazed by the wealth of insight and information that Bell was able to pack into this breezy, effortlessly entertaining 105-minute doc. Nothing seems glossed over, and Bell is not interested in sound bites. The editing is slick and the movie is full of jokes, many of them very funny, but its treatment of the issues is thoughtful and considered. Bell’s focus on his family might have been a distracting and self-indulgent move, but his vision of how their story fits into his broader narrative is so lucid that the juxtaposition ends up being poignant.

Bell himself is an irresistible presence, and a rare interviewer. Not prone to Michael Moore-style ambushes, he kills his subjects with kindness, smuggling in deep skepticism and cutting intelligence under an approachable, almost jovial demeanor. The Henry Waxman interview really has to be seen to be believed; other highlights include Floyd Landis (who comes off well) and Ben Johnson (who comes off disingenuous).

Ultimately, despite his prodigious talent, Bell overreaches — his thesis that performance enhancers are a uniquely American animal, their prevalence indicative of our nation’s power-at-all-costs spirit, is damaged by the compelling case he himself makes that steroids aren’t really anything special. His treatment of the specific controversy is so compelling that the attempt at even broader commentary was unnecessary anyway. Bigger Stronger Faster isn’t just fascinating — it’s genuinely impressive.

-- Eugene Novikov

Released:	2008
Directed by:	Christopher Bell
Rated:	PG-13