Team Foxcatcher

Seeing the film play out brought back memories of Bennet Miller's fantastic Foxcatcher. Although both have different leads, I think both also work to highlight many of the same recurring themes and plot points. This film only adds to the mystery and intrigue of the entire case and of Du Pont. It works to highlight certain scenarios and it also emphasizes the tragedy as something that was just inevitable, which is different to the more spontaneous character developments of Miller's film. The relationship between Du Pont and Schultz also seemed to be friendlier and at least more like one that had arisen due to friendship, as opposed to the one highlighted by Miller's film. This works as a great companion piece to that one, but it also stands on its own, it tells its own contained story.

This is an incredible documentary!

It contains actual footage and home videos from Dave Schultz's life.

The film serves as a great tribute to Dave, his family, friends and wrestlers.

I had the privilege of viewing it at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. When I got home, I watched it again. It is THAT good!

The documentary, Team Foxcatcher, did a wonderful job of portraying the life and effect of John Du Pont. It then went on to show how the Foxcatcher Farm was grown by John du Pont. The film initially portrays du Pont as a philanthropist and an overall good person through the use of uplifting and energetic background music. Further, into the film, you can see how the overall viewpoint of du Pont began to change. The wrestlers seemed to get a more intense sense of weirdness and creepiness as they got to know du Pont more. They almost felt on edge every time they interacted with du Pont and they sensed a feeling of darkness and abnormal behavior that had come over him. One thing that I wish that the documentary discussed more was the other sports that du Pont sponsored on the Foxcatcher Farm. Overall, I enjoyed this film a lot. The downfall of the life of du Pont was beautifully depicted.

The story behind Team Foxcatcher captured the imagination of the nation during the 1990s. A man in John Du Pont, desperate to put some stamp on the athletic world, killing one of the best wrestlers in United States' history. It divided the team and ultimately led to more drama off the mat than on.

What made this documentary superior to most of its contemporaries was the exclusive footage provided by the wrestlers. Also, unlike the ESPN 30 for 30 take on the story, we got a wider array of opinions as well as a deeper dive into Du Pont's wayward emotional state that eventually ended with him killing Dave Schultz.

Between the sudden fascination of the story being brought into popular media, this story takes the time to build the worldview of Du Pont and how a man who was never loved or supported created Foxcatcher Farms as a way of dealing with his strife. His mental state just didn't run parellel to the type of person that could sustain this world, and it was little surprise his life went off the rails so quickly.

While the story does humanize Du Pont a little, it mostly stays on track with the primary story...a world where Olympic wrestlers competed and trained to be the best in the world. In a lot of ways this place was an athletic Camelot, but the nightmare ended quickly that fateful January day in 1996.

If anything, the true story of Foxcatcher is one of desperation and sadness. People will go to the furthest reaches to make themselves feel important. Sadly, many of them step on a lot of people along the way.

This film did a good job at portraying what went on in this situation. I found it very disturbing how they portrayed his mental state. I recommend while you watch this film you take into account the background music. As I watched it the background sounds helped the point of the scene come across very clearly.