The Program: A Heartbreak call Lance

Cast : Ben Foster, Chris O'Dowd, Guillaume Canet, Jesse Plemons, Lee Pace
Rated: 7/10
This week it is all about Hollywood waxing eloquent on sporting icons — one, an African-American achiever in times that were definitely anti-Black, and another, a White American idol who fought cancer to become a cycling icon. One was never acknowledged by his Government despite being a clean winner of four Olympic Golds and the other, so feted by America that it was unimaginable, till he falls from grace due to systemic doping despite never testing positive to enhancement drugs.
So, one is heart-warming and the other heartbreaking. The Program shows up the biggest cheating plan in the world of sport through fallen idol Lance Armstrong who won the Tour de France a record seven times. For decades he ran the biggest, most audacious and organised doping programme to have ever tainted the sport of cycling. He almost got away, till he got greedy and decided to return to the track after walking into the sunset.
It is a precise and to-the-point story of this fraud. Armstrong broke many hearts all over the world and what was most painful about that? The fact that he never cared. This movie shows us how much he didn’t and Ben Foster is fantastic on the cycle doing just that. 
Source: Sunday Pioneer, 13 March, 2016

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