Senna: the movie review
The story of an amazing life and an untimely deathThis is an unusual confession for a motoring journalist to make, but I missed the Ayrton Senna era. I should have known better but had only a passing interest in Formula One in the 1990s, despite Senna’s heroics and all the controversy.
I can, however, remember vividly the day he died.
Like a scripted film, Senna: the movie, captures Senna’s rise, the turbulence of his racing life and, of course, his ultimate demise.
Pieced together using unseen footage and told in the words of the main players – there’s no voiceover typical of documentaries – we learn of Senna’s battle with biased race officials, the uneasy relationship with his team-mates, and how he very nearly didn’t start the race that killed him, so moved was he by Roland Ratzenberger’s death the day before.
Award-winning director Asif Kapadia, a British film maker of Indian descent, grew up watching the Senna era.
His biggest challenge, after gaining the support of the Senna family and F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone (both of whom took more than two years to arrange meetings with and then gain approvals from) was deciding which footage to leave out from the 5000 hours of film he eventually had access to. It took another two years to piece together.
Some classic racing scenes made the final cut, some other obvious moments didn’t make it into the movie because, Kapadia says, they’re so well known. The movie lacks nothing because of this.
Released 16 years after Senna’s fatal crash, it is British film company Working Title’s first ever documentary. It already seems to be on a winner.
Senna: the movie won the World Cinema Audience Award Documentary at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, and Best Documentary – Audience Award at the Adelaide Film Festival.
These are likely the tip of the iceberg for it is a truly moving film that happens to have cars in it. Indeed, it will likely go down in history as the first motorsport movie that non-car people (ie: girlfriends and wives) will enjoy. It is so good, you won’t have to watch a chick flick as compensation.
Senna: the movie is now showing at selected Australian cinemas.
Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
