Senna

Synopsis: The story of the rise and rise of Ayrton Senna, the Formula One driver who thrilled race fans during the late 80s and early 90s, until his untimely end as a result of a racetrack accident.

Using entirely found footage from the era, director Asif Kapadia has assembled an amazing film that tells the story of Ayrton Senna from his early days racing go-carts on the professional circuit to his domination of Formula One and the controversies that raged as he and teammate, Alain Prost, fought for the number one position and became sworn enemies, at least in the public eye.

Senna is a film to see at the cinema, and on as big a screen as possible, sitting as close as possible. The car camera footage as Senna races is breathtaking, and gives you a real sense of exactly how skilled he was. And the commentary that overlays the film tells you exactly how talented he was, as he takes cars that are mechanically inferior to others on the track and beats them.

You don’t need to know a thing about Formula One to enjoy Senna. The man was fascinating and the film is smartly structured so as to give you all the information you need about every stage of his life and story. In an inspired move, Kapadia uses Senna and Prost’s rivalry to frame the insights into the politics of the sport, as they both use the rules to burn each other and fight for the championship trophy. If you ever wanted to know about the politics that goes on behind the scenes in racing, this is an excellent primer as the film-makers have unearthed footage from pre-race briefings, trackside footage of people scheming and recorded recollections of those who were there.

Told with a real understanding of dramatic structure, and gripping from start to finish, Senna is a superb and revealing documentary about a fascinating and talented man.

 

 

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