Senna

I was lucky enough to get tickets to a preview to this film a few days before it's UK release.  It was at Cornerhouse Manchester and was supposed to be followed by a Q&A with the writer and director.  Unfortunately the writer couldn't make it on the day.  The director, Asif Kapadia, was great though.

The film shows the life of Senna as an F1 driver.  This is told through film footage rather than interviews with the people who were there.  The access they gained to footage was amazing.  You get a very complete picture.  The production had pitched their idea to Senna's family and gained their support.  They had also gained the support of Bernie Ecclestone who gave them full access to the F1 footage archives.  It seems a camera is following all aspects of F1 on race weekends.  There is also footage of Senna from the family archives giving a picture of the man away from his job.

The director says that once they had permission from the family and Bernie everyone else was on board too.  There are parts of the film with voice-overs from friends, family and colleagues but the story is mostly told as it happened.

The film focuses mostly on Senna's rivalry with Prost rather than his relationships with other drivers he raced against.  This, we were told, was down to time constraints.  The first cut came in at 7 hours long!  The complicated relationship with Prost is more than enough to fill one film.  We're also shown glimpses of his relationship with Jean-Marie Balestre.

The one reason you must see this film in a cinema is the in-car footage.  It's the first time I've ever had any idea what it must be like to travel like that.  It's exciting, awe-inspiring and gave me renewed respect for the skills of these men.

This is a definitely not just a film for F1 fans.  This is a well presented biography of a charismatic genius who happened to be a racing driver.  F1 fans must see this in a cinema or forever kick themselves.  Anyone who enjoys a good, moving, story should see it too.

I had always thought of Senna as a brilliant but arrogant driver.  This film made me think much more fondly of him.  By showing the man himself.

I can't wait to see how much more we'll get on the DVD.  I hope it's plenty more as it seems this wonderful film could have been 3 times as long.I really want to see some of the bits they had to sacrifice due to runnign time.

5 out of 5 pawprints

Oh and by the way.  Make sure you take some tissues with you.

There is a podcast including bots from the Q&A here.

You can book your tickets for Cornerhouse showings here.