Senna (The Movie)

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Brilliant movie, I choked back tears as soon as it started. Senna was a remarkable man, and was my F1 hero as a kid.
 
I saw the DVD version last night and it had quite a few missing scenes from the version I saw at the movie theater last December, including that scene F1 fan posted above. I also remember it showing more of his early career, this one jumped to the McLaren years right away.

Hope I can find the longer version somewhere.
 
Hun200kmh
Xuxa - And a bit creepy that she gave him good-wish kisses for all years to come, stopping in the 1993 kiss.
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My point exactly. That's what I was saying after I saw the movie. Weird.
 
I didnt know a hole lot about senna and prost but what i did learn was how religous senna was and prost actually had a sense of humor lol great movie though all must see it! the sound was defining in the theater i saw it in made all the more better.
 
Hun200kmh
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.
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I felt it could have been a lot more critical against Senna than it was, but then I guess its difficult to really criticise someone you are making a film about in celebration of him.
Even so, its possible to celebrate someone and discuss their flaws.

My main gripe with Prost's portrayal is pretty much one part of the entire movie - where they stitch together two seperate interviews. I can't remember the exact words, but it was something along the lines of "He is too fast, it is impossible to beat him. He is fast all the time, I cannot keep driving like that every session all the time. There is no other way" or whatever. It was basically an interview from one moment where Prost was talking about his competition with Senna stitched together with another later on where he was talking about his collision at Suzuka I think. The way its stitched together in the film suggests something entirely different than if the two interviews were played seperately in their respective scenarios.
I just feel it was slightly too exaggerated and that it doesn't really mention nor highlight that Prost was a quick driver himself and did beat Senna without the need of politics.

I guess I worry more for people who know little about Senna/Prost than for those that do. I worry that people watch this film and don't really gain a full understanding of what a unique person Senna was and how impressive his battle with Prost was (in terms of ability on track, not battles in politics or in mindgames).
I guess I just prefer the straight-documentaries rather than an exaggerated dramatisation.

I also hate, hate, hate the terrible audio-synch. Some bits just don't have the right audio matched with the video footage. Really amateur stuff like the Monaco onboards. You hear him change gear at a different time to him changing gear on screen and you hear the throttle when he would be well off it.
 
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Now that the Senna film has been released in the UK, I've been able to buy my copy of it and finally watch it again to not only remember why I put out my earlier comments but also to understand the context of some the scenes a bit better as the original times I watched the film it was in Portuguese.

I very quickly and easily remembered why I felt Senna was portrayed in a "can do no wrong" way and Prost in a "horribly political" way. It boils down to the thing I was referring to earlier - the film does not really critcise Senna in any way and critcially fails to even mention his very nasty side.
Nothing is said through the entire film about Senna's ruthless methods on track, particularly crowding other cars off track and turning into other cars when they try to overtake. A good deal of the film dicusses the rivalry with Prost but crucially neglects to mention the infamous incident at Estoril in 1988 where Senna crowded Prost towards the pitwall to try and prevent him passing!
This makes the Suzuka 1989 collision appear to be the first time they come together and in so doing begins to paint Prost in a very negative light. It doesn't setup any sense of wrong doing from Senna and so to me suggests that Prost had no reason to turn in and go that far in preventing him passing. It basically suggest Prost started it all in 1989.

It started long before that, even back to 1983 against Martin Brundle in British F3 and probably earlier. Certainly there was more to it than simply an intense rivalry between two quick drivers - it had become a dirty game long before 1989.

As I've said earlier, I feel this isn't a fair depiction of Senna and is completely unnecessary. Showing this piece of criticism would have made the film a lot better and really shown the extra dimensions Senna had. As it is, the film just depicts Senna as the incredible driver who had to fight against everyone - a relatively boring story to be honest though obviously the ending is extremely dramatic and sad. Again, I understand that probably a lot of the footage might not have been obtained if the filmmakers had been more critical - perhaps Ayrton's family would not have liked that - but its still a shame that what has become a very popular film isn't really a very good depiction of the story.

I also feel I have to again comment about the terrible mis-matching audio especially in the Monaco onboards. Hearing throttle sounds and upwards gear changes when Ayrton is braking and turning round corners annoys the hell out of me! Its such a basic mistake!
 
I found out the DVD version I watched was international, that's why it was different (shorter) from the one I watched last year.

I should buy the national DVD version sometime soon.
 
I ordered this on amazon a few days ago, the tripple play version (Blueray/DvD/Digital), hoping it will arive today, though that is looking less likely now. I've already seen most of the available documentries and Senna footage, hoping this brings something new to the table.
 
Ardius
Nothing is said through the entire film about Senna's ruthless methods on track, particularly crowding other cars off track and turning into other cars when they try to overtake. A good deal of the film dicusses the rivalry with Prost but crucially neglects to mention the infamous incident at Estoril in 1988 where Senna crowded Prost towards the pitwall to try and prevent him passing!
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I think you arrived too late to the living room and didn't get to see the start of that race :p

[YOUTUBEHD]zznJjSncGCE[/YOUTUBEHD]

Also, when you mentioned some team mate nearly putting Prost to the wall at Estoril I was a bit confused at first why that was mentioned in the "Senna Movie Thread". My mistake :p

[YOUTUBEHD]x5ntlBJERME[/YOUTUBEHD]

(go directly to 4:45)


I rest my case :)
 
Whatever, I'm sure we can start delving further and further back into the rivalry, though I personally feel its wrong to simply paint Prost as the devious and dirty driver and certainly the film simply ignores all these previous incidents and goes straight to the Suzuka 1989 clash.
I certainly think that starting from that incident throws more of the blame towards Prost when in reality this was two drivers who were as bad as each other - something the film never gets across.
We can delve all the way back to 1983 for examples of Senna's track behaviour, way before he met Prost.

I understand that there is a lot they could have shown but didn't due to time constraints - but they certainly didn't even touch on Senna's past ruthlessness even for 5 seconds.

I feel I've explained this all well enough now. If people feel differently fine, but don't refer to my opinions as exaggerated. I personally feel that my criticism is quite valid and I am attempting to keep it as measured as possible. I'm not a journalist trying to make something out of nothing. I do not feel I am being "very critical", merely critical.
 
Doe anybody have an Australian DVD release date? I didn't get the chance to see the film in cinemas - I live in a small regional town, so the local cinema doesn't exactly show many documentaries - so I was hoping it might get launched soon.
 
So I got my copy, I found it to be very inspirational and an amazing watch, very long though but I was glued to the screen from start to finish. Very emotional at the end, as you would expect.
 
nitrorocks
That's how it is. No one cares about motorsport
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Only Mr. Happy-Go-Lucky isn't out sick.



Movies get snubbed, it happens, it really means nothing.
 
nitrorocks
That's how it is. No one cares about motorsport
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Maybe it was TO good;) I still haven't seen it yet and I can't find any info on it being released in North America.. right next to a G27 and a Collectors Edition of GT5, this is on the top of my Christmas list this year!
 
Mac K
Maybe it was TO good;) I still haven't seen it yet and I can't find any info on it being released in North America.. right next to a G27 and a Collectors Edition of GT5, this is on the top of my Christmas list this year!
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I have a G27. Great wheel.
 
prisonermonkeys
Doe anybody have an Australian DVD release date? I didn't get the chance to see the film in cinemas - I live in a small regional town, so the local cinema doesn't exactly show many documentaries - so I was hoping it might get launched soon.
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The current release date is December 8 so thankfully not to far away :)
 
Going to get it on BluRay next week or so - is it worth it? Guess so from the comments and rating on imdb.
 
LewyOs
Don't bother with the blu ray, its not worth the extra money over the standard dvd version.
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I was lead to believe that the blu ray version was a few minutes longer. Maybe I'm wrong.

I found it fascinating to watch the drivers briefings. We are not usually privvy to them. I also found it heartbreaking when you saw Roland talk about how he was pushing the car. I always felt bad for Roland, but to see this conversation then relive his terrible crash was very emotional for me.
 
Just watched it.. Brilliant movie and very educational for me since i'm born in 93. Although i realise that the character portraits in the movie should be taken with a pinch of salt after reading previous posts in this thread. Recommended for sure :)
 

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