A film I have been meaning to watch for some time is the documentary, Bigger Stronger Faster. The approach that the filmmakers take in BSF is that “sure, everyone is using steriods, HGH, blood doping – you name it.  But our society drives them to do it, and thus, they should not be the ones to blame.

Examples that make their case perfectly are too numerous to mention – from the fact that Arnold Schwarzenegger admits to his steroid use to win Mr. Olympia and doesn’t test for any illegal drugs in his annual Arnold Classic, to the hypocrisy of Floyd Landis’ Tour de France disqualification based on having too much oxygen in his blood, despite the fact that there are two legal methods of increasing oxygen count and two illegal methods.

I have always been completely against cheating and more importantly, against a sports environment that props up the substance abusers and makes heroes out of people obviously “juiced.”  The victim here is not the fans that wanted a pure competition between athletes on even footing, but the children that are bombarded with the subliminal message that to win means to cheat, and to cheat is okay.  Its not even their world view or moral compass I fear being corrupted, but their bodies themselves as they take these substances without regard to the health consequences.

“Bigger Stronger Faster” may take the case for using these drugs too far in an effort to make the point but, it is a good film, and it does a good job of taking the argument out of the minutia of things like steroids in baseball and onto the bigger picture of the American culture of “Bigger Stronger Faster.”

RATING 7 out of 10