Senna (2010)
Senna (BRIT) Directed by Asif Kapadia; Written by Mandish Pandey
Senna is a gripping documentary about the life of Brazilian Formula One race car driver Ayrton Senna. What sounds like a very average set up for a sports bio is transformed into high drama of the first order as director Asif Kapadia manages to transcend the genre with a piece that compels from starting gate to finish line. The film uses archival footage extensively, drawing from a staggering 4-5 thousand hours of available material. Kapadia details Senna’s rise from child go-kart racer supported by his doting parents to Formula One prominence in the mid-eighties. Emerging onto center stage is his larger-than-life, ongoing battle with Frenchman Alain Prost, an intense rivalry that involved complicated racing politics and divergent individual approaches to the sport. Coming from a privileged background, the handsome, intense, and enigmatic Senna became a national hero in poverty stricken Brazil, racing with a fearlessness that would match any driver in the history of the sport. Unabashedly patriotic, and emboldened by his strong faith in God, Senna felt fiercely compelled to represent his country and give them something to be proud of. His mission brought him world wide fame and great fortune, but also burdened him with a heavy, self-imposed mandate to perform at the highest level each time out of the box. To go along with the wealth of behind-the-scenes footage of the driver at work, and home movies showing him during down time with his family, we also experience Senna’s perspective behind the wheel via a camera placed in the car. This footage adds to the suspense as the audience gets a taste of the extreme speed and dangerous turns involved. During his decade long career, Senna battled racing authorities for better safety regulations - efforts that are juxtaposed with his reputation as an extreme risk taker who got better in the rain when danger increased, and, of course, the ultimate irony of his fate.