SIFF 2008: Juiced and Ripped in Steroid Documentary Bigger, Faster, Stronger*

BIGGER, FASTER, STRONGER* (***)
(Christopher Bell, US, 2008, 105 minutes)

We were experimenting with it. It was a new thing.
--Arnold Schwarzenegger

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In the 1980s, pop culture junkies viewed Hulk Hogan, Sylvester Stallone, and Arnold Schwarzenegger as entertainment figures. To three Poughkeepsie-based brothers, they were something more: they were heroes who inspired the Bell boys to become bodybuilders and power-lifters. 

While director, USC grad, and former Gold's Gym employee Christopher Bell doesn't use steroids, his heroes have and his professional wrestler siblings do, leading him to look closer at this growing phenomenon.

Though Bell explores the health costs, he's mostly concerned with the moral consequences, and speaks with doctors, lawyers, congressmen, gym rats, and pro athletes to get to the bottom of the conundrum. 

He also includes a wealth of archival material, notably footage of the congressional hearings on steroid use in baseball (prompted by Jose Canseco's Juiced). The personal nature of his entertaining inquiry elevates Bigger, Stronger, Faster* above the average expose.

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The best activities for your health are pumping and humping.
--Arnold Schwarzenegger

Bigger, Faster, Stronger* plays Pacific Place on May 30 at 4:15pm (the asterisk in the title stands for "The Side Effects of Being American"). Director in attendance. The movie opens in Seattle on June 6 (venue TBA). Click here for The New York Times review. Images from CTV (Arnold in 1977's Pumping Iron) and Film Reference (Stallone in Rocky).