Untold: Hall of Shame focuses on Victor Conte and one of the biggest doping scandals to hit the sporting community in history. The film is streaming on Netflix.
Story
Victor Conte started the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO) in 1984 to help athletes by testing them and letting them know what they would need to improve their condition and excel in their sport.
Conte teamed up with other individuals in the world of sports and worked with athletes from track & field, baseball, and the NFL. BALCO was accused of giving these athletes performance-enhancing drugs, a charge that Conte persistently denied.
Conte was ultimately charged on 2 counts of felony charges and served a minimal sentence in prison as they authorities weren’t able to make their claims stick.
Positives
The film gets a wide variety of talking heads to get opinions from and there is definitely a picture being painted through all the different perspectives.
The facts of the case are mostly laid plain and the members involved are being themselves on screen, allowing the audience to decide for themselves who the real culprit is.
Negatives
Victor Conte comes across as smug and unapologetic for most of the film and has a very flimsy defense behind his case. Which makes it feel a little disingenuous when he suddenly gets emotional toward the end when he’s talking about his time in prison (four months).
The two reporters used in the film didn’t necessarily add a lot of weight with their takes and mostly took up space that might have been better served covering something else.
Verdict
Untold: Hall of Shame is a good film covering a rampant problem that is found in sport even today. It comprehensively covers the BALCO case and allows Victor Conte to tell his side of the story, letting the people judge him based on what they hear and observe from his perspective.
Untold: Hall of Shame
Director: Bryan Storkel
Date Created: 2023-08-15 12:30
3
Also Read: Painkiller review: Highly-engaging drama makes every second count