At the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal

Larry Nassar worked as a doctor for USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University for over twenty years and abused hundreds of athletes. The documentary asks how it went on for that long. Erin Lee Carr directs. It is an HBO production. At its centre are the testimonies; the athletes describe it themselves. But its actual subject is not Nassar, it is the institutions: how complaints were not recorded, what the coaches knew, how the federation made athletes unable to speak, and how the university closed the files. It presses one point in particular. The system trained child athletes in pain and in obedience to authority. Where pain is normal and objection is weakness, recognising abuse becomes difficult. The documentary builds that out of the athletes' own words. The court section is the heaviest part. In 2018 over a hundred and sixty people gave statements in court, broadcast across America for weeks, and the film uses that record. Nassar is serving life. The federation's leadership resigned and the university paid a large settlement. Who it is for: viewers who follow documentaries on institutional accountability and the world of sport. Who it is not for: the content is child abuse, described in detail. It is genuinely hard to watch.