The Program

Synopsis: Cycling hero and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong (Ben Foster) is winning the Tour de France year after year. Sports journalist David Walsh (Chris O’Dowd) starts to get suspicious that the cycling hero may be getting a helping hand from banned performance-enhancing drugs.

Alex Gibney’s 2013 documentary, The Armstrong Lie was a searingly brutal look at a man who lied through his teeth while accepting the world’s adulation. This dramatized version of the same story has a number of strengths but also some weaknesses.

The number one strength is Foster’s compelling performance. He captures the cold and clinical style of the man and we really feel that Armstrong is a highly unlikeable character, with plenty of talent and drive but with an ego to match. Similarly O’Dowd is solid as the dogged journalist who refuses to kowtow to the general opinion that the cycling legend is innocent (The film is based on Walsh's book "Seven Deadly Sins: My Pursuit of Lance Armstrong"). The portrayal and recreation of the Tour de France, in fact all the cycling scenes, are skilfully executed, with an arresting opening tracking shot, following Armstrong through glorious mountainous scenery as he slogs uphill, his heart pumping on the soundtrack and his voiceover declaring “I’m not more gifted – I just want it more”.

As the story unfolds however there is a forced feeling to the dutifully chronological narrative with events, dates and places, announced by the use of surtitles, rolling along at a relentless pace, like pages being rapidly torn off a calendar. After introducing sports doctor and steroid advocate, Michele Ferrari (Guillaume Canet), the focus shifts rapidly from Armstrong’s team buying bulk supplies of steroids in a Swiss pharmacy to Lance’s sudden unexpected win, and then to him vomiting blood in the shower and being diagnosed with testicular cancer. Racing further ahead, year by year, we see Lance’s recovery, then he and his team relaxing in their caravan, almost casually enjoying intravenous infusions of the banned performance-enhancing drugs. The blatant dishonesty and gall of it is quite shocking. There are scenes of Lance maliciously threatening other riders if they speak of what they know, through to his setting up his charitable foundation, LiveStrong, to support and inspire other cancer sufferers. The incongruity of  these two sides of his life grow even more strange. All the while, Walsh’s doubts are growing.

As the film moves away from what almost seems the set-up for the major scandal and towards the progressive outing of Armstrong, it actually becomes stronger. In one particularly impressive scene, Armstrong practises over and over in front of the mirror the assertion he will give in interviews that he has never been found taking banned drugs. His condition of denial and almost pathological disconnectedness with reality deepens and Foster really gets his performance into high gear. The tension ramps up when Ferrari is arrested, and fellow teammate and religious fanatic, Floyd Landis  (Jesse Plemons), starts to grow a conscience. Enter Dustin Hoffman in a small role as a risk insurer and by now the film is really feeling it has more oomph and momentum.

Hurtling to the denouement and the sad and sorry facts we already know, I ended up feeling that the film had given me a pretty good overview of this man’s life but that with a more imaginative approach it could have had more depth and engagement.

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