Stronger for Life

But while we average folks tend to hold them up on a pedestal, we sometimes forget that warriors are, in the end, human. They are subject to the same emotions, trials, and challenges in life that we experience: the highs and the lows. In Montagnani’s case, a breast cancer diagnosis shatters her world and brings her “Stronger for Life” motto into question. For someone whose entire life, not to mention livelihood, is centered around her physicality, it was utterly devastating when it gets taken away from her. “I felt that my body had betrayed me,” she says.

Montagnani never hides or shies away from showing the physical and mental pain that she endures. It’s heartbreaking to watch a woman who desires to get back to doing what she loves but is thwarted by biology. As Stronger for Life goes on, we witness Montagnani’s return to the gym to teach too soon after her breast reconstructive surgery, only to experience a major setback in her recovery when the pain returns with a vengeance. At one point, the still-recovering Montagnani does a pull-up, and it’s wince-inducing because we know that she is trying desperately to return to her normal while her body is in a tremendously fragile state, and any overexertion could be catastrophic.

“…every emotional beat resonants.”

As a filmmaker, Ilaria Montagnani ably puts the audience into her frame of mind at all times. The intimate cinematography, by director of photography Noriko Sugiura, ensures that every emotional beat resonants. When her father, Marcello, passes away from aggressive cancer, she hops on a plane back to Italy to be with her family, sacrificing her in-person acceptance of a prestigious Life Achievement Award from Equinox, the fitness chain where she leads her devoted students. It’s a genuinely heartbreaking moment in a film full of them. Though a clearer timeline of when the documentary began (after her diagnosis? After the surgery?) could have helped with the proper context early on.

Stronger for Life showcases a woman warrior whose mission is to intertwine body and mind to create the strongest person possible and give herself the best chance of leading a life of power, integrity, and fearlessness. But as evidenced in this documentary and the story of Ilaria Montagnani, noble ambitions cannot shield a person from the curveballs life throws. They can only make one stronger… for life.