LostTimeLady reviews: Senna: a film review

[LostTimeLady]

Senna: a film review
By LostTimeLady

Spoiler: Acknowledgements

This review is dedicated to Sundays afternoons. Because my parents sitting in a dark in the living room with the curtains closed for two hours watching the F1 was part of my childhood.

Spoiler warning: Although this film is a documentary and deals with historic facts about the life and times of Ayrton Senna I will avoid talking about the areas focused on in the film. Just so you know what's coming but not how it's built up.

[image height=400]http://images.hemmings.com/wp-content/uploads//2011/03/Sennaposter_1500.jpg[/IMG]​

Formula 1 was part of my childhood. That's not to say I ever had to patience as a young girl to sit through a whole race (two hours sitting still, torture!) but I was aware of what went on, more or less. Anyone who is a current fan of Formula 1 knows that things have changed since the F1 of the last century. The cars are safer, more reliable, serious injuries are less common now, and there hasn't been a death in years. Some would argue that drivers no longer race at the ragged edge. Back in the day drivers raced in cars whose undercarriages used to scrape on the track and cause showers of sparks all over the place, would explode into fireballs with each driver knowing that the next race could very well be their last. Others would say that a more tactical race and safety is a small price to pay to save lives. Senna is set at this cross-roads of F1, between the ragged-edge driving of old school F1 and F1 in its current form today.

The film follows the life of Ayrton Senna, three-times F1 world champion and heralded as one of the greatest drivers of all time. The film follows Senna through the whole of his F1 career starting with Toleman-Hart and finishing with Williams. It also documents his rivalry with French world champion Alain Prost both on and off the track. The film gives an insightful look into the politics that occurred behind the scenes after races, including the events after one fateful crash between Senna and Prost in 1989 at Suzuka, the Japanese Grand Prix, as well as the events leading up to his tragic death. References are made to his early life as the son of a well-to-do business man in San Paulo and his go-karting career but the major focus is very much the racing.

[image height=300]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Ayrton_Senna_1988_Canada.jpg[/IMG]
Senna driving in 1988 with McLaren.​

Senna is first and foremost a documentary style film. There is no re-enactment clips, all the footage you see is as it was filmed back in the day. There's a charming quality to this as it feels as though, since very little of the film has been cleaned up at all, you're watching things how it was viewed two decades ago. There is no voice dubbing either and quite a lot of the footage of races has Brazilian commentary, so expect subtitles from the start. The pacing is very good and even if you know enough about F1 to see what's coming next the build up is perfect so that when a crash happens or a dramatic turn occurs you're still on the edge of your seat. The use of footage from on board cameras was nice and added to the pacing. Sometimes documentaries lack the critical 'drama and conflict' that makes a great film but beautifully the conflict between Prost and Senna is there for the taking as a major plot point that becomes the main focus of the film. The film itself has a voice clip from someone discussing the very nature of the conflict and how it actually attracted people to the sport.

Many individuals who are old enough to remember seeing the races featured the first time around I'm sure will get a tingle of nostalgia, personally I got similar tingles seeing a young Rubens Barrichello (fellow Brazilian racing driver and most experienced driver in F1 history) and hearing references to Nigel Mansell (of British F1 racing fame former F1 world champion).

A quick mention has to be made to the music in the piece which was fitting and excellent as it mainly can to the fore during scenes with racing involved. My only critique of the film is that any voiceover was 'historic' footage and so no modern analysis was given, although commentary on events were given by the 'historic' sources. Also, for non-fans this film could also be quite alienating as it wasn't until half way through the film that Senna's nationality was made explicitly clear. The film is also single-minded in its focus on Senna and his struggles with the Formula 1 Association and Prost leaving the viewer wanting to know more about the other drivers and the times in which they were racing. I left the film feeling that the film was as much a tribute to one of the greatest divers of all time as much as it was a documentary on his career and the times.

Overall Senna is a must for anyone who has an interest in Formula 1 but also for anyone who wants to see how a good documentary is done.

LostTimeLady had to use Wikipedia a lot for this review but she didn't want to get any of the facts wrong.

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[Sp3ratus]

-snippity-

Excellent review, short, easily readable and straight to the point. I haven't seen the documentary yet, but I've been wanting to for some time now. I remember hearing about it the first time, when it was mentioned in Top Gear, last series, I think. Unfortunately, I didn't follow F1 back then, so I never actually saw him race, but following the F1 now(and for the last couple of years), I've heard a lot of talking about him. My dad might have seen him race, but I'll have to ask him about that.

Based on your review, I'll definitely have to go pick it up soon, I've always wanted to know more about the greatest F1 driver ever, besides watching clips on Youtube and reading about him on Wiki.

Oh, and do you still watch F1? Because if you do, we have a group here on the Escapist, dedicated to talking about the races and all that, if you're interested.

 

[LostTimeLady]

-snippity-

Excellent review, short, easily readable and straight to the point. I haven't seen the documentary yet, but I've been wanting to for some time now. I remember hearing about it the first time, when it was mentioned in Top Gear, last series, I think. Unfortunately, I didn't follow F1 back then, so I never actually saw him race, but following the F1 now(and for the last couple of years), I've heard a lot of talking about him. My dad might have seen him race, but I'll have to ask him about that.

Based on your review, I'll definitely have to go pick it up soon, I've always wanted to know more about the greatest F1 driver ever, besides watching clips on Youtube and reading about him on Wiki.

Oh, and do you still watch F1? Because if you do, we have a group here on the Escapist, dedicated to talking about the races and all that, if you're interested.

Cheers. I definately recomend it. I do still watch the F1 on and off, I've caught most of this season so I will check out the user group. Thanks!

 

[derob]

good interview! awesome subject matter, and clear and concise composition.

 

[LostTimeLady]

good interview! awesome subject matter, and clear and concise composition.

Cheers!

I'll agree with the other two on the quality of your review. Senna is a film I recently saw myself. I've only got into Formula One since 2009, where I finally decided to start watching it after hearing about the underdog story of how Brawn GP managed to be resurrected from the ashes of Honda Racing, while also reviving the career of Jenson Button. As such, and because of my age, I wasn't in a position to ever see Senna or Prost racing, but I'm familiarising myself with the 80s and 90s in Formula One through old season reviews.

The Senna vs. Prost rivalry obviously plays into this period of time heavily (with Mansell playing a supporting role, both as a rival in his own right, and a teammate to Prost), and this is certainly a timely film. It's a difficult job to condense ten years of Formula One history into one-and-a-half hours, and obviously, a few things were always going to be left out in the production. You're correct when you suggest that the film takes a single-minded focus on Ayrton Senna, and I do believe that the film does present a biased view of Alain Prost, but even within the wild confines of the Formula One paddock throughout the years, there are few characters as interesting and complex as Senna. And let's be fair here: There are a lot [http://www.f1rejects.com/drivers/brabhamg/index.html] of [http://www.f1rejects.com/drivers/grouillard/index.html] characters [http://www.f1rejects.com/teams/life/index.html] from that time period which are barely known by even the die-hard supporters of the sport.

(Incidentally, that includes the Black Stig [http://www.f1rejects.com/drivers/mccarthy/index.html], and the farcical team he drove for. [http://www.f1rejects.com/teams/andreamoda/profile.html])

With that out of the way, one of the things I was particularly impressed by was the use of FOCA (now FOTA) archive footage in a presentation of some of the races as had never been seen before. I was astounded by the footage of Senna pushing like a demon through Monaco, passing backmarkers without hesitation, before crashing before the entrance to the tunnel. It really demonstrated what sorts of margins he was working with, and how stunning his pace could be. Given that it was one of two races he'd retire from that season, a dominant one for McLaren, it showed how committed he was at that stage to win at all costs.

I too found that footage of Senna crashing at Monaco unbelievable, that and the collsion between him and Prost at Sazuka (as I mentioned in the review). It does show just what he was willing to risk to get the prize and sometimes he didn't pull it off.
It still amazes me how close to the edge all the drivers were racing at back then.
I do agree about Prost being painted in a certain light, but I suspect this was a deliberate move for the sake of the drama and dynamics of the piece. The closing credits however did address the issue I thought

Spoiler

with telling the viewer that Prost is a trustee of the charity.

 

[got_ginger]

wonderful review. being a (relatively) young fan of F1 (i was alive at the time but too young to understand) i knew of the facts and big moments in his life but never seen them, so the film taught me some new things about the man. a wonderful summary and review for someone who does'nt know of formula 1 (eather well or at all)

 

[Powereaver]

Having watched Senna Races i know just how amazing he was at times... but i also watched his Untimely Death at Imola.... it was so amazing to see at the time it was just like wow.. even the commentators were stunned.. it was just an absolute cloud of dust and WHOMP! and at first i thought he was just unconscious because his head moved in the cockpit but i later found out the fatal details of what happened and was just shocked.. but the documentary is a must see for anyone who loves Formula 1 and certainly highlights his career for all the new F1 fans who want to know who the real legends are.