Tonya Harding was a champion figure skater who was accused of being involved in an attack on her skating rival, Nancy Kerrigan. It was January 1994, and the internet wasn’t even a word in the mainstream vocabulary, but it was the early days of 24 hour news stations. International news was becoming more commonly known because of most televisions having the SKY news channel.
Tonya was born to a low-income family in Portland, Oregon, but her obsessive mother, LaVona started her daughter figure skating at age 5 years. Tonya made it up the ranks through her teenage years, but was never fully accepted by the figure skating world, because she lacked what they saw as a sense of grace in her skating style, and there seemed to be snobbery among the community.
Tonya got married young to Jeff, who was later found guilty of organising the attack on Nancy Kerrigan. Tonya too was deemed guilty of involvement.
‘I, Tonya’ tells the story from the side of Tonya Harding, but not without warts. She was a victim of physical abuse, first from her mother, and later from her husband. The movie doesn’t pull any punches with these abuses, and viewing is not for the faint hearted.
The cast are brilliant in their portrayals of the real people, especially the three leads.
Allison Janney has won the Oscar, BAFTA award, and Golden Globe Award, for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Tonya’s mother, LaVona. She is a compelling figure to watch, and Allison brought a chilling performance to the fore with the role, writes David Flynn.
Margot Robbie, in interviews admitted that she had never heard the Tonya Harding story. However she got in behind the role, and re-created the life of Tonya from early teens to her marriage and becoming a world champion Figure Skater.
Sebastian Stan as the bad guy in the piece – Tonya’s husband, Jeff, was very real in his portrayal.
The movie is told in documentary style, and the viewer can’t help but feel part of the world of these difficult people.
It was worth the wait to see the background to the Tonya Harding story. While it may not all be believable, it’s certainly an insight that hasn’t been shown for almost 25 years.
