Over the Limit (2017)

Over the Limit: Directed by Marta Prus. With Yana Kudryavtseva, Margarita Mamun, Irina Viner, Amina Zaripova. An intimate portrait of the world’s most outstanding rhythmic gymnast Margarita Mamun who needs to overcome mental fragility to take part in the Olympic Games.

“The film-maker (herself an ex gymnast) has used an extremely sparse style of documentary making here. Thereu0026#39;s no back-story, no intro, no interviews, no beautiful juxtaposition and no narration. Itu0026#39;s a very effective way to make the viewer uneasy and wrong footed from the start… And thatu0026#39;s how you should feel watching this true life horror show…. Unless you are into 70 minutes of verbal and psychologic abuse of course!u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eNow as for the main protagonists themselves… itu0026#39;s the story of a high level gymnast and her two coaches preparing her for the olympics in 2016. What we are unflinchingly witness to is nothing short of verbal and psychological abusive. How a fellow human being can treat someone in such a degrading, disrespectful and abusive way in the name of making them better at a SPORT is utterly beyond me. Yes the gymnast was eventually very successful, but at what cost mentally?!nOne coach is so used to saying and doing whatever she pleases she thinks nothing of saying the most vile things in the name of u0026quot;toughening up the gentle soulu0026quot; of her young star, the other coach veers wildly from doing exactly the same one moment, to extremely inapropriate physical contact the next. Itu0026#39;s very disturbing to watch.nAnd donu0026#39;t even start me on the IMDb description of the documentary, who wrote that … The coaches themselves?! Calling this girl u0026quot;emotionally fragileu0026quot; is utterly ridiculous, the unflinching strength she shows in withstanding the bullying only makes the abuse even harder to swallow.nWatch it not for the pleasure of perfect elegance but as a study of a beautiful SPORT (as in something done for enjoyment) completely corrupted by the selfish human need for power and glory.”