Senna

Movie Title--  Senna

Release Year--  2010

Running Time--  1 Hour and 45 Minutes

Film Type--  Documentary

Cast--  Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Sid Watkins

The story of Ayrton Senna; his career and untimely death in Formula One.

This film begins with Ayrton Senna's arrival to Formula One in 1984.  It then briefly focuses on his time with the Toleman and Lotus teams before shifting it's main focus to his time with the McLaren team.  

Senna joined the McLaren team in 1988, partnering him with fellow driver Alain Prost.  1988 is the year that Senna won his first World Championship with a little bit rivalry between him and Prost.  The next year however, the rivalry grew larger and more significant between the two men.  It soon became a political game, as Prost was close friends with the then head of FIA, Jean-Marie Balestre, and all the backlash tended to fall on Senna.  At the deciding race of the championship, there was an accident between Prost and Senna; Prost got out of the car and left the track and Senna reentered the race.  As soon as Prost saw this, he went straight to the top of FIA.  Senna went on to pass the leader after a pit stop repaired the front of his car and win the championship but it was then determined that he was disqualified for going back onto the track, giving Prost the win.  

The following year at the same track where Prost and Senna had collided, Senna made the pole but the start was changed to the dirty right side of the track and second place Prost, got the better position, on the high side of the track.  Prost needed to win this in order to take the championship.  When the race started, Prost quickly pulled ahead of Senna but at the first turn, Senna did not yield, spinning both cars out and making Senna the winner of the World Championship.

The following year, he won his third world championship, making him the youngest three time winner.  He left McLaren at the end of 1993 and moved on to the Williams team in 1994.

The 1994 season saw changes to the regulations.  The years before had seen new electronics placed in the cars and FIA thought it would be more for some of the less wealthy teams if most of the electronics were stripped from the cars.  The rule changes banned active suspension, ABS and traction control.  Senna often spoke of his discomfort when it came to the handling of his car.  

His final race was the San Marino Grand Prix in Imola, Italy.  Senna had not done so well at the first few opening races of the season and declared "This is where my season will start".  That Friday he landed the pole for the final time.  He complained that the car was generally worse after the engineers worked on it.  That Friday found his friend Rubens Barrichello in a bad accident, leaving Barrichello with a broken nose and arm.  That Saturday during qualifying, Roland Ratzenberger, a rookie from Austria was killed when his car hit a concrete wall.  Senna's friend Sid Watkins, the Medical Chief Professor, suggested to the very upset and tearful Senna that he should quit and go fishing but Senna replied that he could not quit.  These accidents very clearly had an effect on Senna.

At the start of the race, there was an accident right away when a car stalled on the track and another slammed into it from behind.  The pace car was sent onto the track and on lap 6 the race resumed.  Senna quickly set a fast pace however when he was rounding a turn during the 7th lap, his car left the race track and slammed into the wall.  He was removed from the car and was given car-side medical treatment and although he was airlifted to the closest hospital, his friend Sid Watkins, who was part of the onsite medical  crew, said he knew that Senna would not make it because he could tell that his brain stem was inactive.  After this accident, Sid Watkins was put in charge of safety for the sport.  Many safety improvement have been made since that weekend.

This film was amazing.  There is little to no formal commentary to this film, it is comprised of footage from the different racing events and from family home video.  There are points in the film where it doesn't actually feel like you are sitting through a documentary.  Although most people know what the outcome to this film is going to be, the way the information is presented is exciting.  It really did hold my attention the entire time.

I think this man was amazing.  It was almost as if he had speed in his veins.  He truly was a national treasure to his country and treated him like so.  The people of Brazil were captivated with him and he always showed pride for his homeland.  To me though, throughout the film when they showed him, he always seemed a little bit sad, especially toward the end.  Don't get me wrong, he always seemed to be smiling or generally happy but it always seemed like there was just a touch of something in his eyes that made my heart ache for him slightly.

I think that one of the best edited parts of the film is also the saddest.  At the San Marino Grand Prix, Senna had a camera in his car and it shows the entire lap until just a second before he spins out of control and hits the wall, at that point it switches to an on track camera.  Although I knew what was coming, I still cried.  It was sad to see this man that meant so much to his nation and that had done so much in a sport that he loved meet his end in this way.

Anyone that is a Formula One fan or even just a racing car far would enjoy this one.  It is a lot more fast paced than a normal documentary due to all the race footage that is in it.  Be warned, if you sit down for this one, prepare to do some reading (since after all, Formula One is more of a European sport), I would guestimate that more than half of the interviews are done in languages other than English but Don't Forget the Popcorn!

P.S.--This year on March 21 would  have been Ayrton Senna's 54th birthday and Google did a Google Doodle for him.  It was only seen in a handful of countries, so for the ones of us that did not get to view it, I am posting it below for all to enjoy.