It should be just about the skating...

Rating: 9/10 (13 January 2019)

I do not follow any sports, I know nothing about skating and I live in Europe. Yet, even I caught a distant echo of what seems to have been a major US scandal. As a proof of how damaging gutter press can be, the only memory I had of the facts was that Harding physically assaulted one of her competitors.
Turns out the "real" story was a lot more complex than the version I barely recollected. According to this movie, Tonya Harding was the product of a violent environment, with a nightmare of a mother who pushed her into competition from age three. Throughout a history of domestic abuse, Tonya managed to become a great skater and then she fell for the wrong guy, Jeff who - by his own admission, had "no game whatsoever". The Tonya-Jeff relationship is the cliche' for codependent-destructive. After countless beatings (from both sides), splitting and reconciliations, the couple went back together for Tonya to get through the 1994 Olympic selections, by proving she had a "wholesome" family.
Unfortunately for her, Jeff had friends as dumb as himself. Jeff tried to "help" Tonya getting to the Olympics by "scaring off" her main competitor. It is not clear what the truth about the "scaring" really is: if it involved the beating or "only" treating letters. At this stage I think nobody cares anymore if Tonya knew about Jeff's plans.
Still, it's hard to believe that people that dumb can actually exist. What I also found terrifying is the relentless media coverage that turned a minor story into a scandal that crossed the Atlantic.
Tony was a trashy girl from the wrong part of town, without any social grace, who was considered too embarrassing to represent internationally the US and she made herself an easy target by refusing to mend her ways, mistaking stubbornness for authenticity. Even if I understand that Tonya's life was doomed form the start, I do not see her as a blameless victim, more as an accomplish.
In any case, the movie is absolutely brilliant. I loved the fake documentary technique, the music score is pitch-perfect and the main actors are terrific. Janney's Oscar for her role as Tonya's terrible mother was well deserved.