We saw I Tonya on Sunday night. I hadn't had much interest in it, but what we see isn't always up to me.
If you're not familiar with this film, I Tonya is the story of Olympic figure skater Tonya Harding, with particular focus on her personal relationships and the infamous attack on Nancy Kerrigan. The story is told from the perspective (or lies) of Harding herself, her ex-husband and her mother. All make conflicting claims about what really happened.
Harding generally comes across as a victim of an abusive mother and an abusive husband, though the film doesn't ultimately pronounce judgment on whether or not she knew in advance about the attack on Nancy Kerrigan.
I found the film absorbing and Harding sympathetic as portrayed, though I remain skeptical of her account. I also felt a bit conflicted as I watched because the film drags Kerrigan back into the spotlight for an attack she'd rather leave in the past. She was, after all, indisputably the victim of a vicious attack, and she wasn't pleased with the release of this film.
I think I have a bit of extra sympathy for Kerrigan because my parents knew her back in the 90s, after the 94 Olympics. They used to take her to public appearances, as escorts/adults who would watch out for her. They liked her. She was a young person thrust into the middle of the ugly Harding mess, on top of all her fans clamoring for her attention. It was intense. She wasn't comfortable with all the public attention, and the public appearances were far more difficult for her than people might imagine.
Later, the press started going after her because now and then something might come out of her mouth that sounded snippy or impatient, and it seemed that the press was all to eager to turn the princess into a villain. It was tough, and I know she was doing the best she could.
I don't know if I'd have felt the same ambivalence about the film without the family history and a sympathetic point of view that comes from what I heard from my parents, but it did raise ethical qualms for me related to the making of films about victims of crimes and tragedies who do not wish to see the past dredged up on the big screen.
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