The Armstrong Lie

I’ll say this about Lance Armstrong: I couldn’t give two damns about him when he was racing his little bicycle in the Tour de France all those years. Whenever I caught clips of his arrogant ass talking about the sport and defiantly bragging about the legitimacy of his victories, I thought he was a jackass. Now that he’s being caught in all sorts of vicious lies, well, I find him oddly compelling. In 2009, filmmaker Alex Gibney set out to chronicle Armstrong’s intended triumphant return to cycling, and his attempt to win his eighth Tour de France title. Allegations that were always there about performance enhancing drugs-were starting to really haunt one of the world’s most famous athletes. He wanted to come back and prove that he could win the race with a clean bloodstream. Gibney’s documentary has taken on an entirely new look in the wake of the Oprah interview. It is now a chronicle of Armstrong’s many, vindictive, damaging lies throughout his career. It is, perhaps, the most aptly titled movie of the year. The Armstrong Lie is the sorriest of closing chapters to an athletic career you are likely to see.