By Scott Muoio

America is obsessed with hating steroids. We are also obsessed with crushing our enemies, seeing them driven before us, and hearing the lamentation of their women. So how do we make amends between needing to be the best at everything all the time and despising the unnatural ways that allow us to achieve that success? The answer, of course, is hypocrisy. By calling for the heads of steroid users in the court room and cheering wildly for those same “cheaters” in the stadiums we Americans have proven ourselves the most self-righteous hypocrites on the planet.

Christopher Bell’s documentary, Bigger, Stronger, Faster* takes our media manipulated view of steroids out of the bull horn crowd and puts it into the psyche of the everyman. His documentary illuminates the plight of not only multimillionaire athletes who have used steroids and other performance enhancing drugs to succeed, but also Mike at the local Gold’s Gym who uses not for fame or glory but just to keep that most painful fantasy alive one more year: the fantasy of eternal youth.

Bell’s thesis is simple though surprisingly uncommon: our obsession with success is America’s problem, steroids the symptom. Regardless of the side effects, who wouldn’t take steroids if it meant the opportunity to keep a lucrative job you love doing rather than undertaking some measly wage labor for a fraction of the pay? And what if steroids’ side effects we always hear about weren’t really as detrimental to the user as the media and politicians portray but rather, much less harmful, reversible in the long run, and supported by medical research? And finally, who among us hasn’t resorted to means other than the straight and narrow to reclaim a few bucks on our taxes, save us from a lay off, help us at a job interview, or countless other daily pursuits where cheating could just as easily be applied as it is to steroids and sports? These are the questions Bell’s documentary asks, questions the media and politicians never seem to consider, and reason alone to reassess much of what we have become as Americans.

The documentary, itself is entertaining and decently informative. From Hulk Hogan to Barry Bonds, Arnold Schwarzenegger to Rocky Balboa, a smorgasbord of media clips hit us full throttle detailing our culture’s lengthy and continuing obsession with giant muscles, enormous feats of athletic strength, and our general obsession idolizing physiques that require much more time, money, and “other means” than most of us could ever spare. With Christopher, himself as the likeably sympathetic narrator whose steroid career we follow, along with his currently addicted two brothers and in denial mother and father, the documentary puts a relatable face on the steroid menace and opens our eyes to how much more common usage is than we might otherwise assume.

My beef with Bell’s fun, funny, and poignant documentary isn’t over his main message that steroids is a small potatoes problem compared to many of our country’s other concerns, it is that he seems to imply that performance enhancing drug use may not really be harmful at all. I don’t care what “the statistics” tell us, statistics can be manipulated to tell us anything we want, I care that the unnatural stress these drugs place on our bodies is being minimized by Bell’s message. Steroids may not directly cause the degeneration of our bodies, but by giving us mass our frames are incapable of properly supporting they certainly are contributing to health problems one way or another. Dozens of professional wrestlers, all steroid users, have had their lives drastically cut short over the last two decades and hundreds more have scores of muscle, joint, and internal medical problems. Steroids may not have been the sole reason for these tragedies, but to dismiss performance enhancing drugs entirely from the equation is as ignorantly reactionary as the dimwitted media and politicians Bell, himself, rightfully calls out.

No matter, Bigger, Stronger, Faster* is an enjoyable documentary that puts a human face on steroids and finally acknowledges the absurdity of our win first, ask questions later mentality. And by recognizing that aspect as the true root cause of America’s problems, Bell succeeds where thousands of hours of media hoopla have failed.

Director: Christopher Bell

Producer: Alexander Buono, Jim Czarnecki, Kurt Engfehr, Tamsin Rawady

Writer: Christopher Bell, Alexander Buono, Tamsin Rawady

Starring: Christopher Bell, Mike Bell, Mark Bell, Rosemary Bell, Sheldon Bell