Resurgence highlights all major conflicts that occurred in the 2021 season, but is an over dramatised depiction

Employees of Crossfit turned Youtube channel owners, the Buttery Bros (Marston Sawyers and Heber Cannon) are back with their annual documentary of the Crossfit Games, this time around naming it Resurgence. With 2020 being an especially tricky period for the CrossFit community (more on that to come) the documentary was only released in late 2021, months after the 2021 Games had taken place and became first accessible on iTunes only before being made available for rental or purchase on Amazon Prime.

In a year that made hosting the Games in its usual spot of Madison, Wisconsin physically impossible, director Dave Castro instead hosted the event at his Ranch in Aromas, California, an area considered holy ground in the Crossfit community as it hosted the games in its first few years and an area that also acts as testing ground for each event Castro invents for the competition. To coincide with COVID regulations in California, the field of athletes was also cut down from 30 to just 5 men and 5 women with all other divisions being cancelled all together.  The 10 individuals that would feature would be decided through a series of events completed in an online format called ‘stage 1’. This is a part of the process that is kept brief in Resurgence, likely to save time to go into depth on each event that did occur in person and to also tell the stories of the other looming issue that haunted the industry at that time.

The bulk of resurgence consists of footage of each event that took place integrated with interviews by each athlete and coaches to gain their various thoughts on what took place as it occurred. First hand interviews is this much depth are something very rarely seen when watching any sport live. We are provided with additional details that fans would not pick up on watching live including tactics used by the athletes and what they discuss to each other during the competition and behind the scenes. The Buttery Bros bring to light how all-access to the competition can make it a more interesting viewing experience, although there is a slim chance this would ever occur live. Another positive is the opportunity to pick the brains of Dave Castro, Crossfit Games director. As the most influential man in Crossfit, fans will always take the opportunity to listen to him discuss each event he has invented and why he was done elements in certain ways. Having Castro present throughout adds a lot of depth to the story that is being told.

Employees of Crossfit turned Youtube channel owners, the Buttery Bros (Marston Sawyers and Heber Cannon) are back with their annual documentary of the Crossfit Games, this time around naming it Resurgence. With 2020 being an especially tricky period for the CrossFit community (more on that to come) the documentary was only released in late 2021, months after the 2021 Games had taken place and became first accessible on iTunes only before being made available for rental or purchase on Amazon Prime.

In a year that made hosting the Games in its usual spot of Madison, Wisconsin physically impossible, director Dave Castro instead hosted the event at his Ranch in Aromas, California, an area considered holy ground in the Crossfit community as it hosted the games in its first few years and an area that also acts as testing ground for each event Castro invents for the competition. To coincide with COVID regulations in California, the field of athletes was also cut down from 30 to just 5 men and 5 women with all other divisions being cancelled all together.  The 10 individuals that would feature would be decided through a series of events completed in an online format called ‘stage 1’. This is a part of the process that is kept brief in Resurgence, likely to save time to go into depth on each event that did occur in person and to also tell the stories of the other looming issue that haunted the industry at that time.

Champion Mat Fraser pictured during the 100 year handstand walk event in which he won. Photo Credit: @Mathewfras

Greg Glassman is major issue that occurred in 2020, addressed in the documentary in an according manor to emphasise the importance and significance it will have on the industry for many years to come. Glassman, the former founder, and owner of Crossfit tweeted “It’s Floyd-19” in May 2020 in response to a tweet regarding the death of George Floyd in the USA. As a result, a number of athletes initially boycotted the Games until ‘significant changes were made’ and as a result Glassman sold the company to Eric Roza. The documentary takes the perfect opportunity to present Roza to the world as the new man at the helm and send out the message that the dark days are behind them, and the company are ready to move on in a positive manor with a new face at its core.

The new owner of Crossfit, Eric. Photo Credit: @Crossfit

It is a welcomed feature in the documentary how we are given alternative opinions on the matter than those with influence over it. Dave Castro says for example that he did not think it would explode into something as big as it did, and he especially did not think Glassman would remove himself from the company. This could be because he and Glassman were the literally the core of Crossfit for over 10 years and were especially close as a result of it. By comparison to this, athlete and 5^th place finisher Brooke Wells is presented as a key figure in the athlete boycott and says on the documentary that she would not represent a community with that opinion at its core and would not compete for the company until change was made.

As has become customary for the Crossfit Games annual documentary, most action shots are either slowed down, sped up or put in full slow-motion which seems unnecessary even if it does add to the drama. Fans of the sport will already know the outcome of each event and the competitions eventual victors. It would arguably be more beneficial to new fans of the sport if less of the action was played at a different speed to that of which it was filmed at. This is due to the fact that it would demonstrate just how difficult this sport, at the highest level especially, and how the title of fittest man and women on earth should not be taken lightly. While it is true that literally anyone can qualify for the Games, and this is something often advertised by Crossfit, overdramatising the events that occur at the top level could make it come across as a far easier process than it is. By seeing more of the hard grunt work that takes place on the competition floor, the creators will have produced an alternative type of motivation for the viewer. Although the occasional slow-motion shot of a high intensity moment on the competition floor does make for an interesting story and viewing pleasure, too much can kill it.

At the adapted version of the game, Toomey won her fourth title while Fraser took his fifth
Photo Credit: @Crossfitgames

The Buttery Bros production team clearly identified that in this documentary they had the perfect platform to address all issues that occurred in the industry in 2020 that led to the Crossfit Games being carried out in the manor it was, which they did so in a delicate, informative, and gripping way. However, the actual story of the competition itself is presented in effectively the same way as years gone by and for the loyal fans could come across as boring in that sense. As the competition itself had the be restructured into a format never before seen in the sport, it could have been an opportunity to produce a documentary that had also been restructured and gone against the perception of what is deemed normal in this sense. While the whole film is certainly interesting to a degree, some areas are found to drag on more than others. There is a strong argument that this was an opportunity missed, and will likely not be taken next year when the competition is likely to return to its original format in Madison Wisconsin.