Excellent hagiography (WORST THING F1 HISTORY; MUST READ!!)

(ATTENTION)


Flawed genius, flawed "documentary".


THIS IS NOT A PORTRAYL OF F1 IN THE 80/90'S.


Excellent hagiography. Anyone who doesn't know about F1 real history ( I mean throught books and a lenghty research, not some vague recolletions or youtube clips) will come out of this thinking that he's basically Christ in a helmet, this was about rewriting history for the masses which is just absolutely unforgivable; and it's ALREADY happening in the F1 circles and new generations. It absolutely fails to show his true character, he was NOT the saint portrayed here. He was strange, paradoxical, special, unique, different, fascinating but this atrocity of feature film (I refuse to call this a documentary) just whitewash completely his character and career and villify Prost. The worst thing that could happen to Senna the person and driver and the sport because it discredits every other grand prix driver and transforms him into some kind of inviolated deity.

What people need to get in mind is that SENNA POPULARIZED RUTHLESSNESS IN MOTORSPORT, which means crashing into people and putting lives at risk (!!) If you today watch F1 and see dangerous attemps of overtake it was because Senna started it. He was not the most ruthless driver compared the modern ones but he was one of the first. This is a crucial information to know if you don't have a prior acknowledge about both drivers and motorsport in general but you will never guess this from just watching this movie which is alarming.

The damage that this movie has made to F1 history is criminal because is twists completely the evolution of safety in F1 and the turning point between when "fair racing" was the norm because of the risks and when divebombing into people became common. This is an unforgivable ignorance from the filmmakers, this basically promotes dangerous driving and completely fails to explains WHY Senna behaved like that and what went through his psyche. This is just OVERSIMPLISTIC and transforms Senna into a cartoon copy of himself.

By this film:

Senna > Naturally gifted, religiously devoted, utterly dedicated but politically naive driver destined from his days of go karting for greatness.

Prost > Calculating political player within the sport, using his shared nationality with the then boss of the sport, Jean Marie Balestre to plot his way to championships ahead of his greatest rival.

Typecast real people like this is an absurd, they were BOTH shades of grey!


Plot line:

Poor genius Senna comes as a young pretender >> Prost doesn't like, pulls the the strings >> Senna fights the estabilishment >>> Walks in water >> Has a lot of premonitions >> Dies >> Saves children and lots of drivers.

It's basically "Pure and underdog Senna againt the world and politics, saves millions of children". I mean (??) Anyone that knows the real deal can say that this isn't how it all went.

The amount of rose tinted glasses is a crime, this is not F1! Those are people, real people, and you can't mess with a crucial moment of the sport that was the arrival and death of Ayrton Senna and turn this into a hero X villain. He basically defined the modern era.

Senna deserves better, Prost deserves better, every other driver of that Era deserves better and also the ones of today who will be compared to this "false version" of Senna by the young and/or ignorant F1 fanbase. it kills the tradition. A whole generation will grow up thinking that he's the ultimate model of sportmanship. This puts him in a pedestal, and doing this to a guy who was SO imperfectly human is a disrespect.

This is a HUGE disservice to the complex character that Senna was, this transforms him into some hind of deity wich he certainly wasn't, he was so much MORE than that, this movie is a downright hagiography.

It selects so much of the story that it's basically a superhero movie.


He was the ultimate paradox of a person. He was very controversial (loved and hated by equal measure, but brought a HUGE appeal to F1 by being a superstar and a magnetic speaker) People just didn't understand why he was ruthless while paradoxically talking a lot about God and morals in his interview like you see at the movie, his charatiable actions where made public ONLY after his death, which how a lot about how in fact was indeed a great person outisde the car and humanitarian after all but this wasn't known while he was alive at all. His complex character was only understood after his death because of several articles, books etc, with people who knew him. And now this movie completely vanishes it into oblivion. While he would punt people off and put lives at risk, he could also be the first to save a driver who crashed by turning off the engine before it exploded and plead to increase the sports safety. He had a bizarre split personality but was magnetic as a personality. After his ruthlessness in racing was adopted by modern drivers , a big example being Michael Schumacher and now contact is incredibly common which is dangerous. He could be blantaly rude to those who criticized him because he has a lot of trust issues with people, yet without the helmet he would be philosophical and kind, and gentle. His self-belief bordered on zealotry yet with his friends and family he could be disarming and sensitive.


He's the most fascinating character study about yet they choosed to do this atrocity behind his "family approval". The acclaims this movie got is beyond me.


What can the producers call this a documentary if it doesn't portray the reality? This is NOT a portrayl of F1 in the 80/90's, it's a one man version of Senna; It's beaitification by film. By using footage of real people it makes even worse because some unaware viewers might arguee that this proves that this is factual but with clever editing you can make ANY STORY. Note that when the Senna x Prost conflict arrives the people narrating most part of the movie are EPSN and brazilian jornalists, writers and his sister. This movie is just so manipulative because it's so emotionally charged but this is a HUGE Hollywood whitewash. His whole carrer and existence is whitewashed forever. This movie will cast a shadow on the perception of F1 history forever, because most people will think that this is an accurate account of the 80s and 90s.

Now Ayrton is basically reduced to a cliche, I am a HUGE fan of him (the real him who was fascinating), but I'm under no illusion that he was a saint and love him for what he is, he was the most complex sports personality probably EVER. Not this atrocity of character assassination presented here. Senna and Prost were rivals and exceptional sportmen, not enemies and they were going to develop an wonderful friendship if it wasn't for Senna's death. The story is beautiful and they choosed to destroy it forever in favor of doing this absurd commercial stunt. The only reason why this was "approved" by the F1 coumnnity is because it brought a ton of revenue and new people to the the sport, who have an absolutely crooked perception of how the sport goes because of this movie. F1 have always been with politics, people complaing (Senna loved to do it too!), etc, always.

In this era of internet where everyone one loves to be spoon feed history, several future drivers will apply this logic of the bogus quote "If you no longer go for a gap that exist you're no longer a racing driver" and new generation from now will again become a destruction derby. Thank you Asik kapadia and Manish Pandey for single handly erasing history. It baffles me how the filmakers can sleep at night. And the elite of F1 community will understand the damages some years from now, mark my words.

CLEAR YOU MIND FROM THE IMPRESSION OF F1 YOU GOT FROM THIS MOVIE AND GO INTO THESE FOLLOWING LINKS:

Before reading and watching bear in mind that Senna's death was the biggest of several important events in the evolution of safety in F1, other ones being Jim Clark's and Gilles Villeneuve for example. By the time of Senna's generation of drivers there was a false impression of safety just like there is now. It was because of the invention of carbon fiber for protection in 1981; Senna only came to F1 in 1984. (a perception which the film COMPLETELY ignores, of course). The shock about Senna's death and all the weekend was because people just didn't expect anyone to die, nevermind HIM. Senna had never been to a race when someone died until his last race, on the contrary older racers like Prost had. Prost turning into Senna was not an isolated case in order to try destroy Senna's chances of the championship behind a political conspiracy, it had indeed a political background and they tried to get rid of Senna, but it's not just that. It's the evolution of a complex history betwen the two, their relationship essentially broke down because of two events Estoril 88 when Senna squeezed Prost into the wall (at the time seen as a really a reprehensible move) and at Imola 89' when Senna broke an agreement between him and Prost; so this was largely iniciated by Senna. and AND THEY DID NOT HATE EACH OTHER, there was a lot of animosity but deep down a lot of respect and Senna used Prost as a motivation, Prost only realized that when they became close after Prost's retirement. The colision where Prost hit Senna was at 50 mph and happened because he was tired of being intimidated by Senna on track. The collision of 90, where Senna ran into Prost was a potentially lethal move at 150 mph and controversial at the time as he could probably lose his license, everyone kind of knew it was on purpose because he said he hinted he would do it before the race but the FIA (F1 organizational body) did nothing. (full video of that interview segment after the accident >> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdCWDSpwv9U) The statement about him making more contact than all of the other champions was completely true at the time. The pole position was at the dirty side of the track at the year before too and he won the race that year so it was no justificaton to put two lives at risk but in his mind he felt wronged; it was the first time that someone had done something that dangerous at the time. His answer was a false justification and he went unpunished. He apologized and came clean at an interview in 1991. (https://youtu.be/ISOEXQG5vOo?t=1501)

I made this compillation of research including articles and videos, it's essential to understand his REAL personality and his impact in motorsport:


This podcast explains a lot about him and Senna X Prost relationship: https://www.acast.com/skysportsf1/1f87f1ff-9a88-4bfe-a454-26417cbd4e16

Obituary from 1994: http://www.motorsportmagazine.com/halloffame/ayrton-senna/the-man-in-the-yellow-helmet/

http://www.foxsports.com.au/special-features/ayrton-senna-saint-or-sinner/story-fnmbudrq-1226903306534

http://autoweek.com/article/formula-one/ayrton-sennas-death-was-day-formula-one-stood-still

https://txtmstrjoeonsports.wordpress.com/2014/05/01/1-may-2014-my-personal-top-10-f1-drivers-3/

http://www.crash.net/f1/feature/203763/1/in-memory-of-ayrton-senna-the-lotus-years.html


Those short videos are much better than the film:

https://vimeo.com/54374127 (Includes his interview before Suzuka 90 and the one at 1991)
https://vimeo.com/119951963


The ultimate Senna REAL documentaries:
http://www.veoh.com/watch/v322560Addz2jKb/f1doc
https://vimeo.com/122827501

Alain Prost interviews: http://www.motorworld.net/forum/showthread.php?t=20073

Great blog posts about Senna and especially the one for Alain Prost (MUST SEE):

http://www.talkingaboutf1.com/2013/11/the-best-driver-of-my-generation-ayrton.html
http://www.talkingaboutf1.com/2011/07/in-defence-of-alain-prost.html

THE RECONCILLIATION BETWEEN SENNA AND PROST THAT WAS COMPLETELY LEFT OUT OF THE MOVIE OTHER THAN A FEW HINTS:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vx8JwCceF4Y (Senna talking the day before his death)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKKgrMROP7s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6QQs-yOMtw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B19rS6OfciI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oLhj4d0n34
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoxhpJ3SIU4

RECOMMENDED BOOKS:

important >>> The Death of Ayrton Senna (essential for any current or future F1 fans!
important >>> Ayrton Senna: All his races

Don't judge those two by the tiles they are great accounts of his life and career.

important >>> Senna X Prost
Ayrton Senna: As time goes by
The toleman story
Ayton Senna: The team lotus years
Ayrton Senna Mc Laren years
Alain Prost Mc Laren years

Others:

Jo Ramirez, Sid Watkins, Jackie Stewart and Eddie Jordan biographies etc