Senna Movie Review

The new Senna film was realised in the UK on June 3rd, and unsurprisingly I swiftly rushed to the cinema to see it. Frankly, had the film been advertised as simply two hours of F1 cars driving past I would still have gone (and probably loved it), given my interest in the sport. But in the case of Senna, director Asif Kapadia has succeeded in making a film which will appeal to the casual audience as well as petrolheads.

It doesn’t take a petrolhead, though, to know the story of Ayrton Senna. Everyone with a passing interest in motor racing, or even sport in general, knows of his three world titles, bitter rivalry with Alain Prost and untimely death, and the film doesn’t really break any new ground in terms of re-telling this tale.

It does present events in an interesting and sophisticated manner, however, with no single overall narrator; rather, the story is told through archive interviews with Senna himself and his rivals, as well as more recent conversations with family members and notably Prost. Some of the footage featured is breathtaking stuff, such as the famous on-board shots from Monaco 1988 which many people will have seen before, but which have even more of an impact on a big screen.

There’s also some amusing recordings of driver briefings, and it’s fun to spot a young Eddie Jordan and Michael Schumacher among the participants. Hearing Ayrton explain, in his own words, his passion for the sport is fascinating, and the on-track action featured is naturally superb, being as it is from a classic era of Formula 1.

There are some shortcomings, however. The movie is, as you would expect, extremely one-sided towards Senna's side of the story, and too much is perhaps made of the ‘Senna versus the world’ slant which the film maintains.

 

The origins of the Senna-Prost rivalry, which turned into all-out warfare, are never really explored, and nor is the thaw in their mutual enmity which took place in the weeks and days before Imola 1994. It would have been interesting, for example, to hear the Senna side of the story regarding Estoril 1988 or Imola 1989, where the cracks in the relationship between the then-team mates first began to show.

In addition, other rivals of Senna’s, such as Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet, are virtually ignored. And, as mentioned above, few F1 fans are likely to learn anything new from watching the film - not surprising considering how many times the story of Senna's career has been told.

But knowing how the story goes certainly doesn’t preclude gleaning enjoyment from it. Unfortunately, everyone reading this blog, and watching the film, also knows how the story ends, and I had a real sense of foreboding as the final moments of Senna’s life unfolded on screen.

The tragic events of Imola are handled extremely sensitively, including the death of Roland Ratzenberger, who is given the respect he deserves. Senna’s fatal crash is shown, but not in a gratuitous manner. Nevertheless it is undoubtedly an emotional watch, and brought back some of the feelings I experienced when I first heard the news of Senna’s death as an 8 year old all those years ago.

So to summarise, if you are an F1 fan (and if not, what on earth are you reading this blog for?!) you simply have to see Senna. Despite some small problems, it re-tells an enthralling story well worth re-telling about a man who encapsulated everything good (and some things bad) about the sport we all love.

N.B. Canadian Grand Prix Driver Ratings will appear next week. Normal (i.e. sporadic) service will then be resumed for forthcoming races!