Senna - the documentary. A personal review.

[gary]

Senna is a 106 minute documentary that tells the story of the F1 career of three times
world champion, Ayrton Senna.

When Senna was killed in an accident at the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994 at the age of 34,
an estimated three million Brazilian citizens lined the streets of Sao Paulo to pay their
respects to a man they had come to regard as a national hero.

The film makers success is taking the countless hours of archival footage available to
them and condensing it into a compelling and superbly edited narrative. This includes
footage taken not only on the track, but also taken behind the scenes during driver's
briefings and from other sources such as TV interviews and from Senna family home movies.
Often raw and grainy, these images nevertheless provide a vignette of a charismatic, if
not often shy figure, that you cannot help but like. Close-up images where you see every
freckle and whisker help lure you into a sense of familiarity that you start to think of
him as "Ayrton" rather than "Senna". And for a short while, you even forget, or perhaps
subconsciously choose to forget, that inevitably the hero of the story, who has his
triumphs and tribulations, will ultimately die.

And of the triumphs there are many. Desperate to win before his home crowd, Ayrton is
leading the '91 Brazilian Grand Prix with only seven laps to go when the car becomes
stuck in 6th gear. Rather than pitting - it would take too long to change the gear box -
Ayrton continues the remaining twisting and turning laps miraculously only in 6th gear
and goes on to win. After crossing the line, in exhaustion, he passes out. Suffering from
muscle spasms in the shoulders, he is lifted from his car and driven back to the podium,
where you see him struggle to lift the wining cup above his head because his shoulders
are still seized up.

One of the more important themes of the narrative is the intense rivalry that exists
between Ayrton and world champion, Alain Prost and the film explores the politics
surrounding these two men, both of whom are absolutely determined to be number one.

The in-car shots of Ayrton thundering towards hairpin corners at speeds in excess of
320km/h still left this viewer breathless.

A must for all F1 fans or for those who simply enjoy a great true-life story, I saw Senna
at the Macquarie Center theater here in Sydney which has giant, very comfortable
seats. Senna is also currently showing in limited release elsewhere throughout Australia.

The winner of the Audience Award for best world documentary at the
2011 Sundance Film Festival, it is highly recommended.

Trailer
http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1709218841/

Clip Monte Carlo 1984
http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi1836227865/

Clip
http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi1802673433/

[Deeno]

Thanks Gary. Great review!
Would really like to see this. Unfortunately (for me) Senna opened at Avoca Beach a few weeks back with 1981 Champ, Alan Jones giving a talk beforehand. I found out the day after.

[multiweb (Marc)]

One of the thing I remember about Ayrton Senna was his daredevil attitude. No matter what he'd get on the track and race. One particular race was drenched in water. 90% of all cars went back to the pits. Only a handful were still racing and he must have done 3 or 4 360s still going hard in this swimming pool like track and he went on winning because he was one of only the few who completed it. It was great to watch. He was like a kid having fun jumping into paddles.

[HCR32 (Peter)]

He will never be forgotten but this doco will be it was crap. Lets face it most ppl will fast foward it to see hes in car cam which shows the last few seconds of his life. I really didnt think they did well with this considering who he was. But hey each to there own.

[Mariposa (Amalia)]

Ayrton Senna is the reason why I became a F1 fan. Unfortunately this doco is only in limited release in Australia and I don't think it will be showing in my town. Will have to wait for the DVD to be available.

Another great viewing is the special tribute from Top Gear, available here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNmqn3heGgE

[gary]

Originally Posted by Mariposa

Ayrton Senna is the reason why I became a F1 fan. Unfortunately this doco is only in limited release in Australia and I don't think it will be showing in my town. Will have to wait for the DVD to be available.

Another great viewing is the special tribute from Top Gear, available here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNmqn3heGgE

Hi Amalia,

Thanks for the link to the Top Gear tribute!

[ngcles]

Hi All,

I'll look forward to watching this. Senna was undoubtedly a precocious talent -- likely the most talented driver of his generation and one can only admire his daring and car control, but I wasn't particularly a fan of his. Schumacher was probably as talented but not more.

Even though he had talent to burn he seemed to me to be an incredibly insecure person and was only happy in a team when he was the only driver in the team with any prospect of winning races. He did his best to get rid of Elio de Angelis at Lotus (succeeded in one season) and had him replaced with someone who was obviously not a winner (Johnny Dumfries) after vetoing Derek Warrick (who was almost capable of matching him).

The (much more protracted) war between Senna and Prost at McLaren had the same ultimate conclusion when Alain Prost upped and walked out because he couldn't stand Senna's tantrums any longer. Despite his incredible talent, I don't think Senna wanted anyone else in the team who was capable of showing when Senna was having an off-day by matching his times or potentially beating him. He was I think a "lone-wolf" and not really a team player.

I most enjoyed his early career at Tolman when he drove the wheels off a third-rate car to occasionally compete with the big-boys in much better equipment. His ultra-fast drive in torrential rain at Monaco -- hunting down Prost in the lead had to be seen to be believed. But after he became established, I think he became a bit of a prig and was only really interested if the deck was stacked in his favour. I remember watching the San Marino race when he died and the moment the car came to rest after the impact you could see his head flop and I thought "he's gone" -- which was really sad that such a precocious talent didn't quite fulfil the expectations everyone had of him. Will be a very interesting film nonetheless.


Best,

Les D

[goober (Doug)]

Caught this movie on Saturday night and thought they did an excellent job with it. I found the scenes in the driver meetings fascinating - especially with the French FIA chief at the time - "my way is the best way".

I was in my mid 20's when Senna died, and had only been following F1 for a couple of years at the time. I didn't watch the San Marino GP that night, as I was feeling a bit sickened by what had happened to Ratzenberger the previous day (had to look away in the cinema too). I still remember the sense of shock the next morning when I heard what had happened to Senna.

If you're a recent F1 fan - see this documentary. The way the cars would just disintegrate is something we simply don't see any more. Safety is several orders of magnitude better now.

BTW, early in the film there was footage of a crash in a practice session, where the driver is literally just lying on the road still strapped in his seat. Who was that driver?

[goober (Doug)]

Originally Posted by goober

BTW, early in the film there was footage of a crash in a practice session, where the driver is literally just lying on the road still strapped in his seat. Who was that driver?

Martin Donnelly, I think.

[gary]

Originally Posted by goober

Martin Donnelly, I think.

Hi Doug,

Indeed it was Irish-born Martin Donnelly who crashed in 1990 in Spain in a
Lotus-Lamborghini 102 V12 which disintegrated. He was lucky to survive it. Image here -
http://f1-facts.com/overview/person/Donnelly

[goober (Doug)]

Thanks Gary.