My review of 'Senna'
I saw "Senna" today with my boyfriend (who is a mad motorsports fan!) at the Adelaide Film Festival. It was a packed theatre at the Piccadilly in North Adelaide, and I was one of the very few women in attendance. I'm assuming that like me, they were dragged along to see it by their partners :P
"Senna" is a film that I never would have considered watching out of my own volition, as I am not a fan of motorsport. The only reason I take a small interest to it now is because of my current partner and his racing obsessions! Anyhow I said I would go with him, and I went into it thinking it would be a good film, but one that I'd probably only see once.
And I'm glad to say I was definitely wrong about that.
Despite not having heard much of Ayrton Senna before, and not knowing a lot about Formula One particularly, I thoroughly enjoyed the film. It was an incredible tribute to Senna and the sport that he loved; it was powerful, engaging, dramatic, and even at times, quite funny and charming. The score, editing, and cinematography were all outstanding.
One thing I really enjoyed about "Senna" was that you got to know him on an intimate level. Not only from the footage that was shown of him behind-the-scenes, but through voiceover interviews with friends, fellow drivers, commentators and his family. He was a humble person, genuine, with a cheeky sense of humour. He was also set in his religious beliefs, and cared a lot about the plight of young children in his home country of Brazil, which was touched on throughout the film. By the end of the screening you felt like you actually knew him, which made his death all the more shocking and personal. I'm not ashamed to admit I shed a few tears over those last few scenes of his life.
The rivalry between French F1 driver Alain Prost and Senna was documented well, too - you could really see the tension between them but it was never an overbearing theme in the film. I also loved that the beginning and end of the doco mirrored each other - a young Senna go-karting, and Senna himself saying that what he loved about it was that it was pure racing - no politics, no money, just racing. He did not care for the politics of the sport, and probably not even the money to an extent (he donated millions of his own money to charities): all he cared about was the race itself, and improving his own abilities as an F1 driver.
All in all it was one of the best documentaries I have ever seen, and I would recommend it to anybody, even non-Formula 1 fans, because as a non-F1 fan I enjoyed it immensely and would go and see it again if I could! Alas, I might have to wait for it to come out on DVD...
Cheers, Jess
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"I'm worth twelve of you, Malfoy" - Neville Longbottom