The Program

Successful athletes prove tricky subjects for character studies due to their all-consuming commitment, training so intensively that little time is left to invest in personal relationships and extracurricular interests. Lance Armstrong is no different. Hardly charismatic in himself; the reason the public took the cyclist to their heart was because of what he symbolised. Affirming the human capacity for triumph over adversity, his fight against cancer and subsequent charity work made him an easy figure to root for. That his rise was fueled by performance enhancing drugs is interesting only on a conceptual level; there’s little drama to be mined from scenes of him working out and taking steroids.

It’s understood that after initially failing to find a distributor, Stephen Frears’ latest was subject to edits and extra shooting. The finished product is taut but structurally aimless. One is given the impression it was conceived as an ode to intrepid journalism, with Chris O’Dowd’s reporter tirelessly taking on an establishment figure once considered too powerful to fail. In the final cut, however, the skeptical sports writer is reduced to a bystander, watching a narrative we’re already familiar with play out.