Downhill: The Bill Johnson Story (Zeke Piestrup, 2010): USA

Reviewed by William Barton. Viewed at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2011.

Downhill: The Bill Johnson Story told the tale of a man who couldn’t stand coming in second place. Growing up near the Big Bear ski resort in California, Zeke Piestrup has always been hanging out on the mountain. When Piestrup was a child, Bill Johnson became the first American to win the World Cup Downhill competition for skiing. Johnson became sort of a national hero for a few months. Piestrup felt compelled to tell this man’s story as his life seemed more like a classic Greek tragedy. Zeke Piestrup not only was the director for Downhill, but he was also the producer, cinematographer, and editor. In fact, he did almost everything except for the music.

Bill Johnson truly does have a remarkable story. Downhill chronicles Johnson’s rise to the top of the skiing world. At age 23, Bill Johnson won the World Cup Downhill becoming the first American to win the medal. Soon, he gave up skiing because he insisted that they weren’t paying him enough money. Years later, at age 40, Johnson decides to make his comeback and in the process suffers major brain damage to the left side of his brain. Downhill shows the rise and fall of a man and the consequences of his actions on his family.

The film contains a lot of humorous interviews, which makes for an interesting watch. Towards the middle of the film, the interviews seem to lose focus and the story becomes less clear.  The end of the film begins to reuse clips from the beginning and the interviewees begin to repeat themselves. The film seemed to be an introduction to the story of Bill Johnson. It seemed as though Piestrup lacked to the time to really get truly involved with Johnson’s family and capture their true emotions in regard to Bill’s successes and failures.

Zeke Piestrup, while constructing a great introduction to the Bill Johnson story, just skimmed the surface of all the emotions and troubles that Bill Johnson and his family faced. At the end of the film, we find out that one of Bill Johnson’s children died in a hot-tub at a very young age. That subject was only highlighted for a minute or two and it was one of the only emotional moments in the film. The interviewees never seemed too involved other than a few brief moments.

I never knew who Bill Johnson was, and now, thanks to Downhill, I know the story of his life. What I still don’t know is what his families reactions really were to his brain damaging accident and what his feelings were about his situation. While Downhill was a good effort and, overall, worth watching, it still left a lot to be desired.