Unlike
most subjects of documentaries premiering at Sundance this year, Dr. Grigory
Rodchenkov was not available for post-screening Q&A’s. That is because he
is in Witness Protection. Dr. Rodchenkov and the Federal government believed he
was targeted by the Putin regime for assassination, perhaps much like several
of his colleagues who suddenly died under mysterious circumstances. Before he went
underground, Dr. Rodchenkov told his story to the World Anti-Doping Agency
(WADA) and filmmaker Bryan Fogel. As a result, Fogel radically reshaped his proposed
doping documentary into the riveting expose, Icarus, which screens during the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.
As
a high-performing amateur cyclist, Fogel originally conceived the film as a
guerilla chronicle of his undercover attempt to conduct his own doping regimen
in the mode of Lance Armstrong. He was referred to Dr. Rodchenkov, because the
director of the Russian Anti-Doping Center was considered sufficiently maverick
to serve as Fogel’s advisor. As Fogel and Rodchenkov develop trust and rapport,
rumors start to swirl regarding the legitimacy of Russia’s record medal haul at
the Sochi games. Soon, Dr. Rodchenkov is directly implicated in those
allegations. At that point, the doctor levels with Fogel: he oversaw a systemic
doping campaign across all sports on the direct orders of Putin’s trusted
deputies. He now fears for his own life.
In
the scenes that follow, Icarus becomes
the film CitizenFour was hyped to be,
but can’t hold a candle to. After assisting Dr. Rodchenkov’s escape to America,
Fogel engineers the release of his story to the press and WADA. Dr. Rodchenkov
packed light, but he wisely brought along hard drives and cell phones loaded
with proof.
Icarus is shocking in many
ways, starting with how poorly Dr. Rodchenkov’s story was reported in the West.
We mostly just accepted news of the Russian doping scandal as par for the
course, following in the alleged tradition of the old school Communist Olympic
training machines. However, the “smoking gun” conclusiveness of Dr. Rodchenkov’s
evidence is stunning. Yet, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) chose to
ignore it, presumably out of deference to Putin’s vodka and caviar. Aside from
Putin and his FSB enforcers, the biggest villain in Icarus is undoubtedly Thomas Bach, the cravenly hypocritical IOC
president.
Unlike
Snowden (with whom Dr. Rodchenkov is directly compared with), viewers can feel
the Russian whistleblower’s life is constantly in palpable danger during the
doc’s second and third acts. Yet, there are even graver stakes involved. Fogel trenchantly
points out Putin invaded Ukraine while riding a wave a nationalist popularity
largely based on Russia’s Sochi triumphs.