The Case for Being Senna Cool

I remember way back in the 1980s that Formula One racing was an o for awesome.  The names were familiar to me, the breakneck speeds exciting, and cigarette advertising dominated.  Then, in my ageing world, the 1990s came about, and tennis became the more popular sport.  Motor sport faded as the stars of tennis came out of from behind the exhaust fume clouds. 

One of the names I remember from the motorsport era was Ayerton Senna, though I never really knew that much about him.  The documentary about his Formula One career, Senna, relieved me of that ignorance.

As much as I admired the speed and skills, I never really appreciated the egos and the politics that went on at the time.  Senna opened up a whole world every bit as cut-throat and competitive and professional as modern day Rugby Union, with calls of cheating and bending of rules, personalities clashing, and new technologies arriving and departing. 

And the man himself was undeniably charismatic.  A good looking yet fairly humble man, born to privilege but with a social conscience, the Senna documentary focused on his racing life, how his incredible faith pushed him to becoming one of the greatest drivers ever (though some criticised his overwhelming faith, thinking it made him reckless as he left his fate in God's hands) and how proud he was of his home country of Brazil, a pride that Brazilians themselves reflected back in one of their most famous sons.  Less explored were his playboy lifestyle (though we got to see some his blonde conquests) and his "growing up" origins, but I liked that these were covered only briefly, as the main story was elsewhere.

Senna has no narrator, no talking heads and no modern footage.  The words of the man himself are used to drive a large proportion of the narrative.  Comments from friends and family describe images taken from the time, and the cockpit camera scenes, when shown on the big screen, are completely engrossing and, on occasion, terrifying.

The film is obviously shot from Senna's point of view.  His colleague and nemesis, Alain Prost, makes a wonderful French villain even if he does not have a twirly moustache.  Calculating and arrogant, Prost apparently does everything to ensure his superiority over the younger up and coming Senna, and while they never really clash directly, the body language and politics off the circuit are more vicious than anything seen on that other 80s institution, Dallas.

The movie ends as we know it must.  I had a growing knot in the stomach as I watched Senna's final race from his cockpit camera's perspective.  What I didn't quite understand is why the various crashes and even a fatality that occurred on the same circuit earlier did not get the whole race cancelled: there was evidently something wrong with the cars (stripped of traction control and other recent automotive innovations) and/or the circuit that year, but it seemed everyone thought it would be all right on the day. 

But this is not a movie that tries to assign blame.  It just presents what was, albeit from Senna's perspective.  And what an interesting and occasionally inspirational life it was too.

Verdict: Senna is an amazing film that deserves all the praise and recognition I had heard about it.  Touching, thrilling, straight forward and letting the story tell the story, it was a brilliantly conceived and executed film that I can recommended to anyone - not always something that can be said about documentaries.  9500 rpms out of 10000.