I, Tonya has been another film trending in Hollywood over the past few months, gaining numerous nominations and awards. The film has been a knockout in the box office, and a part of this is because I, Tonya is telling the story America has been waiting to hear. For those who are unfamiliar with the controversy over Tonya Harding, here’s a quick snapshot: After a practice for the U.S. National Championships, Nancy Kerrigan was hit in the back of her knee with a police baton by a man who was hired by Tonya Harding’s ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly. The question has always been, did Tonya know about the assault? You won’t find a definite answer in I, Tonya. Instead this movie shines a powerful light on abusive relationships and a background story that is never discussed by the media.
The movie starts when Tonya is just four years old and follows her life before, through and after the attack on Kerrigan. Following a documentary-narrative style (a more serious mockumentary), the film allows the fourth-wall to be broken in the recounting of events by the characters. Tonya Harding, played by Margot Robbie, is an outcast in the skating world. She is everything an ice skater isn’t supposed to be — “redneck,” poor and rebellious on the ice. Harding’s scoring in competitions is affected by this, and conformity proves to be as constant struggle in her life.
Her mother, LaVona Golden (Allison Janney), is abusive, both emotionally and physically. Continuously pushing her daughter and hardly showing affection toward her; the mother-daughter relationship is barely existent. The relationship between Harding and first-love (and husband) Jeff Gillooly is a turbulent, abusive and destructive one. I, Tonya is more than a film on a sabotage in sports, it is a film that shows the effects of abuse. Harding moves out of her mother’s home because of abuse, only to suffer further abuse by Gillooly. In a handful of barrier breaking moments, Harding acknowledges the effects abuse had on her and how they impacted her skating. Even as Harding covers up bruises on her face with concealer, the outside world neglects to help her. The tragedy of it all is that to get on the U.S. Olympic Team, Harding gets back together with Gillooly in order to fit the American-lifestyle mold. It is a culmination of pressure, abuse and instability that unravels Tonya Harding and her performance.
Did she know about the attack on Kerrigan? Or even worse, was she the one behind it and not Gillooly? A common theme in the film, which was based off of actual interviews with Tonya Harding and Jeff Gillooly, is this line from the movie: “Everyone has their own truth.”
I, Tonya is a captivating film that gives you a character (Harding) to root for, but in the midst of this seemingly fictional story, the film reminds us that it is not just a movie but the real story of the tragedy of a former figure skating legend.
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