Senna [DVD] [2010]

I have now watched this docufilm 30times - and I simply cannot get enough of this awe-inspiring "real racer".This documentary/film has been received very well with critical acclaim from across the board. Being an F1 fan who has been watching since 2005, in the months prior to the release of this film I was at the stage where I was starting to dig into F1's rich history.Following the tribute to Senna on BBC's Top Gear, I was left literally speechless. Growing up, I knew of the name Senna as my parents followed F1, but unfortunately I didn't follow it in my younger years which is when Senna was racing.Needless to say, I have since become a huge fan of Ayrton and I am still researching the period and beyond.The film is a little biased towards Senna, which can be forgiven since it is about him afterall. This is obviously down to the producer/director, and I hear that Prost himself hasn't watched it despite his huge contribution to the film, some of which is shown on disc 2.However, they have defended this by stating that the movie in its original form was over 5 hours long! (link: [...] - go to part 5 of the interview). Obviously a lot had to be cut, which includes some of his most spectacular drives including the obvious Donnington '93 (which is briefly mentioned) and Monaco '92 amongst others.I understand that it has to be edited to make the movie more "mainstream", although despite this, I cant help but feel that showing more footage of what helped fuel the rivalry between Senna and Prost would have gone a long way, such as Imola '89 as that article points out. Even if it was 2-3 minutes at the most, would it really upset the balance of the film?As an F1 fan, and I'm sure a lot of others would agree, I would absolutely love to see the full 5 hour unfinished version! But, the finished 100 minute feature is by no means a let down. This is, quite simply, a brilliant film made even better by the fact that it is all real, using actual interviews from the man himself and others (including Ron Dennis, Alain Prost, Sir Frank Williams and others) to dictate the film over the action. Unfortunately, this also makes it sad at the same time, as we all know how it ends.Despite some nit-picking, that hasn't stopped this film from jumping straight to the top of my list of favourite films, and I have to say, by a long way.

I found the Senna film to be a good effort in showing the main narrative of Senna's life within a very short time.There was footage in the film I've never seen before, particularly the driver briefings and the very forceful personality of former FIA president Jean Marie Balestre.It was disappointing the film was not longer because it missed so much of the detail leading up to the big incidents in Suzuka 89 and 90. It also failed to capture the genius of Senna's driving in 1992/93, when faced with the prospect of not winning the championship, he still drove some of his finest races.I felt the film was rather one dimensional too, because it failed to look at the real Senna by focusing only on his racing career. There were so many dimensions to Ayrton, including his passions away from the track for model building and jet skiing and the immense business interests he had acquired.The film also failed to capture his very strong values for family life, religion, and his desire to help the Brazilian people through his charity work, although these themes were gently touched on.The film also failed to tackle Senna's rather complex personality because Senna had his flaws and paradoxes. His desire to win balanced against his human compassion for people was a theme not looked at in the film which was a shame.Finally I feel there was a little too much footage of the accidents at Imola which claimed the lives of Ratzenberger and Senna. I felt there was little need to show footage of both drivers being extricated from their cars and receiving medical treatment.The ending could have been much more subtle in that the film should have shown the on board footage of Senna's last lap up until his camera blacked out, just before he hit the wall. Then the film could have ended with some factual information about what happened next.Less is more sometimes and the ending of his life could have been covered more tastefully.On the whole though it was a decent documentary, although I think the documentary entitled 'A star named Ayrton Senna' was much better is providing a fuller picture of his life and career.

Oh God, where do I start?? Senna, IMHO, is the greatest driver that ever lived and 100 minutes is not enough to portray his life and skills behind the wheel. However this film does a pretty good job of doing just that.It shows clips never seen before and of course clips we have all seen before, but may have forgotten about because let's face it, it's nearly 30 years ago that he broke through into F1 and that makes me feel very old.It really shows what a dedicated, very emotional and religious man he was. People think he was a hard nosed racer who would do anything to win, well maybe he was, but he was always the first there when another driver was injured. The look on his face when Martin Donnelly had his near fatal crash at Jerez in '91 says it all and when Rubens and Roland had their accidents at Imola the weekend that he died. He knew he shouldn't have raced that day and how we all wish he hadn't.We all remember what happened in May '94, it is etched into my brain, as we sat there and watched it all happen live not believing what we were seeing. It's impossible to see the footage without getting emotional and I defy anyone not to be upset by it. I sat there last night weeping. As the 17 years have passed there is not a day when I don't think of my only idol, the only man I would ever have left my husband for.Life is so cruel, but what he did do is leave us with the BEST motor racing we will ever see and probably will ever see. Those cars were beasts and needed skill to handle them and the drivers of that era were true heroes. Nowadays they are computer operators and nothing more.Make sure you have plenty of tissues because believe me as the film rolls on you will need them more and more.