Through this documentary that follows a group of athletes, who do their best and train hard as bodyguard, the thing that challenges them, as they work hard to win Mr. Olympia.
Well-crafted, sympathetic and apparently fairly honest, but not as novel as it would have been in the pre-reality TV era, when the home lives of participants in obsessive family units and strange subcultures weren't an entertainment staple.
It's mostly a polite, controlling-authority-approved peek into the world of competition bodybuilding, though not enough to dissuade fans from taking a look.
The oversized men who compete for the title of Mr. Olympia in this illuminating documentary are articulate and serious-minded, with some muscling through adversity to find a way to their dreams.
Yudin gets into the psyches of his subjects. Their ups and downs, highs and lows. The need to do well in competitions not only for personal glory but for the sponsorships that feed their families and keep them in the gym.
While Yudin gives us plenty of room to laugh at them, he also acknowledges their capacity to inspire awe - not only at their bulging muscles, but at their willingness to go all the way with the infantile wish to look bigger than anyone else.
Yudin's deft cameras admiringly capture these iconically sculpted men without overly objectifying them, should the prospect of eyeballing all that posing-strapped beef give any potential viewers pause.
... we are left to consider natural gifts versus applied science, and ponder why we usually credit the former more than the latter. Like all good stories, this movie about bodybuilding is really about much more.
