Senna (The Movie)

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I saw this a few weeks ago. There seems to be little in it to show what a fantastic driver he was, it almost entirely focuses around the political crap he had to put up with. I was expecting their to be more focus on his great drives at Monaco and Donington 1993 for example. But it's almost entirely focused on his rivalry with Prost, and made me think that realistically neither of them deserved the '89 or '90 championships if they felt they had to basically cheat their way to victory.

But still a reasonably good film.
 
I read somewhere that you guys in the UK have a "short" version of the movie and one notable "cut" is a lengthy interview with Prost. Maybe the original version is more balanced?

Anyway, I think there will be a DVD release with the full movie material (and more, much more, please :D ) and since it didn't get released here in Portugal, it will be a must-buy for me.
 
Well, I think they changed it from a documentary into a film. They made Prost and Balestre the 'Baddies'.
 
Jimlaad43
Well, I think they changed it from a documentary into a film. They made Prost and Balestre the 'Baddies'.
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Make no mistake, and this comes from a guy that wasn't a Senna fan and didn't watch the movie yet: Jean Marie Balestre was a bad, bad, baddie. Next to him, Max Mosley is a very reasonable person that was by no means - as head of the FIA - a wannabe dictator or even vindicative against those that opposed him. :lol:
 
Jimlaad43
There is just a mention of Donington, not a full race highlight. Boo.
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PeterJB
I saw this a few weeks ago. There seems to be little in it to show what a fantastic driver he was, it almost entirely focuses around the political crap he had to put up with. I was expecting their to be more focus on his great drives at Monaco and Donington 1993 for example. But it's almost entirely focused on his rivalry with Prost, and made me think that realistically neither of them deserved the '89 or '90 championships if they felt they had to basically cheat their way to victory.

But still a reasonably good film.
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Its about Senna, the person, not Senna the racing driver. As such, quite obviously they couldn't show every piece of driving he ever did.

Though I fully agree that its missing a lot, but I don't I have a problem with those parts, because you can't really expect a 90 minute film to feature everything.

Hun200kmh
I read somewhere that you guys in the UK have a "short" version of the movie and one notable "cut" is a lengthy interview with Prost. Maybe the original version is more balanced?

Anyway, I think there will be a DVD release with the full movie material (and more, much more, please :D ) and since it didn't get released here in Portugal, it will be a must-buy for me.
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No, I've heard the original version just has more of those random bits of interview from the American journalist which are meaningless prattle to me. Apparently the shorter version is better..though to be honest as I've already said dozens of times now, there are far better documentaries/videos that better described Senna out there anyway so it really makes no difference.

Jimlaad43
Well, I think they changed it from a documentary into a film. They made Prost and Balestre the 'Baddies'.
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Well duh, that was the whole point of it in the first place! From the outset this has always been a film, not a documentary. If it was a documentary, it has so many errors and incorrect depictions it would be one of the worst documentaries ever created!

I don't want to go back to my old rant again, but they really could have made it into a good film, Hollywood-style script and all, without changing it into a "evil Prost/Balestre" plot and making Senna the hero. They could have just as easily focused on the conflict of Senna himself, and contrast his very dirty on-track antics to his care for human life and his charity, etc.
 
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Hun200kmh
Make no mistake, and this comes from a guy that wasn't a Senna fan and didn't watch the movie yet: Jean Marie Balestre was a bad, bad, baddie. Next to him, Max Mosley is a very reasonable person that was by no means - as head of the FIA - a wannabe dictator or even vindicative against those that opposed him. :lol:
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I couldn't agree more about that! 👍
 
Guys, where can I (legally) purchase this?
The only option it looks like I have is to import it from Italy through amazon. But it's a PAL formatted disk and not guaranteed to work with my DVD player.
And even if it does work, everythings going to be in Italian. :/
 
You could purchase a copy of it from Amazon, and if it doesn't work, you could download it from the internet couldn't you? (because you've paid for it already)
 
Jimlaad43
Well, I think they changed it from a documentary into a film. They made Prost and Balestre the 'Baddies'.
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Before I saw the film I was prepared for Prost to be made out as a bad person. Of course being Senna's great rival, it was made out (in Senna's favour) that way, but they balanced it out for me. Showing Prost both at the funeral and carrying his coffin showed that although they didn't get on, there was a respect for one another too. The statement at the end too how Prost is a trustee of the Senna Institution tried further to show Prost's true edge. No such treatment for Balestre though, and not seeing in depth what his involvement in F1 was beyond the film I can't pass a judgement anyway.

PeterJB
I saw this a few weeks ago. There seems to be little in it to show what a fantastic driver he was, it almost entirely focuses around the political crap he had to put up with. I was expecting their to be more focus on his great drives at Monaco and Donington 1993 for example. But it's almost entirely focused on his rivalry with Prost, and made me think that realistically neither of them deserved the '89 or '90 championships if they felt they had to basically cheat their way to victory.
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Ironically, this is what I respected the most about the film. You have between 90 and 120 minutes to showcase Senna, so most people would just show all of his greatest drives. But I think this films strongest aspect is that they understand most people watching the film are already VERY aware of Senna's talents at the wheel and have probably already seen the drives already. The races that were shown were the important landmark drives that meant the most to Senna or in any F1 drivers career with insight into the race, usually from Senna himself and aided by the American Journalist (Williams). For a younger admirer of Senna who was not around to actually see him race, it was great to see all of the private footage and media appearances he made which show his character far more than shots of him driving cars ever could. This is all missed when spending hours watching old videos of his races, youtube clips or BBC highlights every now and again.
 
pezzarinho17
Before I saw the film I was prepared for Prost to be made out as a bad person. Of course being Senna's great rival, it was made out (in Senna's favour) that way, but they balanced it out for me. Showing Prost both at the funeral and carrying his coffin showed that although they didn't get on, there was a respect for one another too. The statement at the end too how Prost is a trustee of the Senna Institution tried further to show Prost's true edge. No such treatment for Balestre though, and not seeing in depth what his involvement in F1 was beyond the film I can't pass a judgement anyway.
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It's like star wars. Anakin starts out good, turns bad and gets good again right at the end. Prost does the same thing. Balestre is like Palpatine/Darth Sidious/Emporer.
 
I always just thought they were as bad as one another in trying to swing things their own way and winning at the expense of each other... Ultimately it was unfortunately a death that ended that rivalry. You'd hope that years later once Senna retired that they'd have settled the disputes and embraced the rivalry as being finished, though never exactly best friends.
 
Wasn't there an incident in which Senna was practicing for a race (don't know which one) but he made a small mistake causing him to hit the wall but managed to bring the car back, and then after getting out of the car he went somewhere private to cry about it?

I remember reading that from a Road & Track or some other auto mag.
 
Since I am a GTP member, I thought I might see if anyone who frequents this section has seen the American release of Senna yet (Obviously, LA and NYC folks only at this point). The versions I have thought about DLing from European outlets are ~104 minutes. For those who have seen the American release, is it really significantly longer? And if you've seen both versions, should I just wait for the American version or is it worth it to see the other first and then the American when I can? I have been a huge Senna fan since I was a kid watching F1 on ESPN. Thank you for any info you guys can provide.
 
Well, this was released in Australia on Thursday (11th August 2011), and is only avaliable to see in major cinemas. (i.e. capitol cities only). So If I wanted to see the movie, it's a $11 ticket ($12 USD) and a $10 train ride ($11 USD) or $15 petrol ($16 USD), effectively doubling the cost of the movie, without any added food/drinks.

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU Australian Cinema companies. Not only are we 6 months behind everyone, the only movie I wanted so see this year is going to cost me a helluva lot more than a student can afford
 
Took an 1h 40min drive up to Sydney yesterday to see it and it was well worth. Arguably the best documentary of the year. Everyone said that Prost was made out to be as a villain but I didn't see it as much as other people; in fact there was a time in the movie where I could see Senna himself as a bit evil.
 
Yeah, it made both of them seem very undeserving of their '89 and '90 championships.
 
XRFalcon
Took an 1h 40min drive up to Sydney yesterday to see it and it was well worth. Arguably the best documentary of the year. Everyone said that Prost was made out to be as a villain but I didn't see it as much as other people; in fact there was a time in the movie where I could see Senna himself as a bit evil.
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It didn't really paint a positive picture of Prost though did it? It didn't even play Ayrton's infamous message to Alain. At least the point I'm trying to get across is that they didn't need to paint Prost negatively or glorify Ayrton. They didn't need to conveniently miss things out or edit things together to construct this fictional story.

The real story is fantastic already...why have they fiddled it?
 
Anybody go to the US premeire on Friday?

I wanted to soooooo bad, but we were busy this weekend. :grumpy:
 
Ardius
The real story is fantastic already...why have they fiddled it?
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Because Senna is dead? That's the way I see it anyway. Had Senna lived, I don't think there be as much fanfare. Look at the comments you'll see on most f1 videos on youtube. A lot of comments saying 🤬 Schumacher, he wasn't a patch on Senna etc... You can tell half of the comments were written by people who weren't even aware of Senna before he died.

Similar thing happened when Heath Ledger died. Don't get me wrong, his portrayal of the Joker was great, but some people got carried away with praise. And his Oscar... As predictable as the ending to a Bond film. Excluding on her majesties secret service.
 
F1 fan
Because Senna is dead? That's the way I see it anyway. Had Senna lived, I don't think there be as much fanfare. Look at the comments you'll see on most f1 videos on youtube. A lot of comments saying 🤬 Schumacher, he wasn't a patch on Senna etc... You can tell half of the comments were written by people who weren't even aware of Senna before he died.

Similar thing happened when Heath Ledger died. Don't get me wrong, his portrayal of the Joker was great, but some people got carried away with praise. And his Oscar... As predictable as the ending to a Bond film. Excluding on her majesties secret service.
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What does that have to do with altering the tale? The history of Senna is already a great story which doesn't need to be changed and twisted to fit some arbitrary plot. Senna himself was such an extreme example of aggression and care. His rivalry and then friendship with Prost is already a great story - why only focus on the rivalry? The changing times of technology, the battles with Piquet, Mansell, etc.

I just feel this film was made to fit into a vision that the directors/producers wanted, when it could have been accurate and still been a great film. All the alterations to give a different angle and perspective are unneccessary.

They didn't have to include everything, I can understand that as there are time constraints. But they didn't need to edit things together like they did and only focus on very singular events. There are a lot of more minor things, but the main one is the depcition of Prost only ever showing Prost's political side and never showing that he too was one of the fastest drivers and that they later became friends. It wasn't as simple as the film depicts.
 
Well I agree with you on this one. While I haven't seen the film yet, it would have been nice if they hadn't been so one sided and made prost out to be some kind of bad guy.


Perhaps they could have included this.

Edit: Don't worry, this is just a video of practice. Not his death.
 
But this was in the movie. At least in the version I watched back in December it was.
 
Yeah. I only watched it that one time at the cinema, been meaning to rent it for a while now and re-watch it. But I don't remember it being so hard on Prost as some of the comments on this thread make it out to be.

It did show Balestre as the villain but even the greatest movie director wouldn't be able to sell him as a good guy.
 
Went to see this last night, and WOW, it incredible. I was grown up in the '00s, so I didn't get to see any of this. I had no idea that the cars were that dangerous. Almost cried at the end.
 
SVX
Almost cried at the end.
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I struggle to watch a lot of the 1994 San Marino footage without a few tears, too much happened in that weekend, the mixture of both Ratzenburger's death closing the book on a promising rookie's career with Senna's care and worry about that accident and then his own death is very powerful.

Not to mention all the other weird accidents that went on during that weekend and after it.
 
Got the DVD today !!!! At last!!!! :cheers:


(but still mad that they didn't show the movie in portuguese cinemas. Considering how he liked this country, had a home here, spoke the same language we speak, had so many portuguese friends - more than any other brazilian driver that I know of - and above all how he was absolutely LOVED here ... it's almost maddening that the movie was ignored by our cinema distributors or whoever in the business decides what is and isn't shown in the big screens).


Didn't unwrap it yet, I'm saving for my home cinema setup tonight, but the box says it's about 105 mins length ... is this the long or short version you guys have been talking about?

PS - As extra I see that the movie can be watched with commentary from the director, screenwriter and producer. Should be good to know all the many interesting facts they surely have to tell and all the choices they made and will surely explain.


Here my DVD .. my precioussss :D


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Ok, I've seen it. And, without trying to do a comprehensive review, I'll say this:

- Movie "tone" - I liked it. No special effects, no excessive drama, no excessive music. Doesn't try to get you to tears (although you'll find it hard to avoid being on the verge of shedding some). It just shows the way it is (was). In this regard, a very honest movie.

Senna - Maybe I know too much about him, but I didn't get the impression this movie tried to make him a God, or a flawless man. Maybe the fact that Ardius was very critical on this point made me prepare too much for a "Saint-like" portrayal of Senna. And because I was expecting it I didn't see it. At all.

Prost / Ballestre -Again, I think the movie doesn't portray Prost as bad as I was led to believe here (looking at you again Ardius :lol: ). Sure he knew about politics, sure he tried to make things work his way but what's new? I see all the time team bosses and even drivers whine and complain and report to Charlie Whiting trying to get some other driver/team penalized. Prost heading directly to Race Direction in the 89 Japanese GP doesn't surprise me.

And, of course, controversial / suspiciously biased decisions ... is that new? Just rewind a few years and see what happened at Brands when Hunt was allowed to race and then stripped of his win.

About Ballestre ... I will say this. I remember him, and I followed F1 when he was in charge. He was a dictator, he liked Prost, whatever, all that is true, with many other things, good and bad about him. But the trailer and the phrase we hear him saying in the trailer "The best decision is MY decision!" is totally misleading about what he means when he says it. And - I'll try not to spoil it - I'll just say I agree with his decision, and with him stating that it was the best decision :D in the end, and again because I was led to believe he was portrayed as evil (not by you Ardius, by the trailer) ... I didn't see that.

Lauda -He is never cited, nor referred, but he does show up on a couple of occasions in the film. I think that's intentional, his horrible scars serve as reminder of what's looming (and we know about it).


Xuxa -She was gorgeous, and that litle moment on live TV showed a Don Juanesque Senna I didn't know. Found it funny. And a bit creepy that she gave him good-wish kisses for all years to come, stopping in the 1993 kiss.

Overall -I was maybe expecting a bit more drama, a bit more excitement, a bit more of "WOW" moments, and didn't get them. But, as I said, what I saw is what I remember. And in no way I share the feeling that this movie painted a "better-than-he-was" Senna. It just shows us how his career unfolded and how it all happened. So, 👍 👍 t:tup: 👍 (don't give the fifth because I'd like to have seen more from his early career, before F1, more from his Toleman year, and more from his greatest friend in F1, Gerhard Berger.)


PS - Loved seeing him in his Porsche (end credits, portuguese license plate) leaving his portuguese home. :)
 
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