Atleta A

This documentary hit Netflix today and I had the chance to watch Athlete A and here is my review for it. The premise of the film documents the real story of Dr Larry Nassar and how he molested young gymnastics for 30 years and how US Athletics covered it up.

Now this film deals with a really intense and disturbing subject matter and it does it really well. As you learn more and more you realise just how disgusting and horrific the actions by Nassar was and just how badly run the US Gymnastics was and how they aided this pedophile which is just truly horrifying.

The thing that makes this really awful, is that by all accounts Nassar seemed like a nice guy and the nicest guy at US Athletics. But he used this to break all the trust issues that there was and let him commit these horrible acts and it is so satisfying seeing him get taken down.

But this film did have some negatives and it is mostly due to it's pacing. I felt like there was some background information that was presented here that didn't add that much to the story. It would have been fine for a mini series but this is only a 1 hour 45 film so it dawdles at times when it shouldn't be. Also if feels like it skips over the really interesting parts involved in this whole case.

Also, obviously seeing all these gymnasts revealing their stories are highly emotional I just wish they could of got Simone Biles to take part. She revealed to the court that she was a victim and with her being the most famous gymnast in the world it would have added more star power here.

Overall, this is a good documentary with a disturbing subject matter. But it has some pacing issues which hurts it and would have maybe been better as a mini series.

Rating - 7/10.

Great documentary. I liked how they recounted the editorial strategy of the newspaper. I wish they had spent a bit of time on the 1997 report to Michigan State University. Left in tears at the end because of the sheer number of girls assaulted over the years. It just indicates how much crime still goes completely unpunished.

For a while now I never really heard what happened with the Nassar case because they didn't want to go on to graphic details in the mainstream media. This documentary has some graphic details but not overly so and I now I know what happened via video footage of Nassar being interrogated and other information contained here.

As a child I was involved in another professional sport and feel like the genius of this documentary is to point out how such professional sports can grow to be very toxic organizations who come to care little about the people the organization is living their lives off of. The leaders of USA Gymnastics clearly didn't care but only wanted to live their lives off the wholesome image of the sport.

I would give a lot of the kudos to Rachael Denhollander who came off as a clear headed, believable "accuser". Without her steady firm recalling of events I am sure it might not have gone further. This story really points out to me and makes me sad, how little women and girls are believed. Now of course, some women have lied before and that continues to be the reason allegations are met with skepticism. But it remains distressing that in general I feel no one would have tried something like this with men.

Ultimately though I hope that parents who do watch this "get" that if they take their kids to sports they don't allow their kids out of their sight. My parents were sometimes accused of being weird but they didn't tolerate anything at all where they could not be present at all times. I don't blame the parents here because as you can see USA Gymnastics wanted to have complete control of their kids -- or their kids would suffer. So they had little choice. But going forward any organization like that has to be rejected immediately because this is exactly the type of thing that can (and probably will) happen.

First off this is a well made documentary, the tone is hopeful and the survivors are treated respectfully. The timeline is well established and the interviews relevant to telling the story. The subject matter is heartbreaking, but now that this is out in the open, hopefully the survivors can heal and the investigations continue.

I cannot believe how corrupt the US Gymnastics is after watching the documentary. The pain the victims have suffered is heartbreaking for me. I really admire those women who stood out and wish them all the best.