Going Down Victory Road with "Senna"

To end of the month I decided to watch a movie that has been on my must watch list for about a month now. “Senna” only a few members of the general public knew his name, and even fewer knew his legacy. Not being alive or even old enough to watch his glory in person, I have missed all the drama and amazement of Aryton Senna. But watching this 2 hour and 42 minute journey, I think I caught up on a lot. After the jump I go into much detail on why I was so amazed at this documentary.

As most documentaries go, you get the whole story of Senna’s motor-racing career, spanning from his rise with Toleman Racing to his eventual death at San Marino Grand Prix in Imola, Italy. But along the way covers the aggressive (or passionate) battle with French driver Alain Prost, hatred towards the politics in Formula 1 Racing, and most importantly his fame in Brazil. If you want to get a more detailed look into the documentary, I explain it a bit more later on.

The documentary can be easily summed up in one word: epic. It’s a long journey through the highs and lows of Senna’s life. And the film does a great job of setting up all the scenarios and getting you into the mood that you would of felt back then. But the most surprising part of the movie is that it is one of the most beautiful doc’s I have ever seen. The picturesque shots of the cars, the tracks and even the drivers make this an eye candy for any racing enthusiast. I am a sucker for in car shots and there are a few, even the famous death shot of Senna.

Senna celebrating a win with a young Michael Shumacher in the back.

But this doc dives a lot into the politics of F1 and the effect of Senna to Brazil. I could not imagine how important Senna is to his home country. He is treated as greatly as a war hero, even a super hero. He seemed to bring joy and a feeling of hope to the poverty stricken country. He was celebrated like no other sports celebrity I know of to this day.

To summarize, I think all racing fan should check this out. It is just amazingly shot with many great facts and covers Senna’s life amazingly. Even if you aren’t the fan of racing, this is a great watch. It shows the social and political aspects of racing, which some don’t think exist in motor-racing. And it especially gives an inside view of what drivers go through in their racing careers. A know a lot of people don’t consider these drivers athletes, but if you ever see the skill that is needed to drive a 700hp machine that weights half your mom’s sedan, you will appreciate it now.

Senna and Prost

I know explain the movie a bit more, and I give you fair warning, this is a dry section.

The documentary can be broken down to three majour parts in this movie. First part is his rise to fame, which was an extraordinary feat to accomplish. Even with one of the newer teams, with relatively little funding. He had the skill to pass many of the more well off drivers. One of his most famous race with Toleman is during a wet Monaco Grand Prix in 1984. Where it rain so hard, the race was stopped on lap 31 with Alain Prost being the victor. Senna drove so quickly and unbelievably that he went from 13th to 2nd and was catching up to Prost 3 seconds a lap. This is easily one of his most memorable races. The controversy started when Senna past Prost on the last lap but did not count. The FIA president (also French) Jean-Marie Balestre gave the victory to Prost, a controversial decision to say the least.

This leads to the second part of the doc, the rivalry between Prost and Senna. After being hired by McLaren in 1988, he was the new teammate to Prost. Prost felt threatened by the new comer, and felt that he was being attacked on the circuit. The Brazilian and the Frenchman had many close encounters on the track, leading to warnings by the FIA for both drivers. Senna won his first championship with his first year at McLaren. This wasn’t just a win for Senna, but a win for Brazil, a country struggling in every way. Senna seemed to be the only light to every Brazilian’s life. The most crucial incident occurred during Suzuka in Japan the next year, where Senna need a win to have a shot at the championship on the final race. Knowing this, Senna attempted to past the leader, Prost, but collided. Prost got out and retreated to the garage, where Senna used the escape road and headed to the pits to fix his car. After leaving the pits, he raced real hard to win the race. Later Balestre DQ’d, fined and suspended Senna’s licence for 6 months for cutting the corner. Prost left McLaren later that year for Ferrari stating he can never be on the same team as Senna. Their rivalry stayed strong for the rest of their careers.

Senna in the rain is a wonderful thing to watch.

But easily the most important part of this documentary is the final chapter of Senna’s life, his death. This part was particularly hard to watch, because I knew when he was going to die. The build-up was intense, the Friday before, fellow Brazilian F1 driver Rubens Barrichello (a driver who I enjoyed watching a lot, a rookie at the time) was involved in a serious accident where his car went airborne. He left with no injuries, just a few bruises, swollen tongue and was shocked. The Saturday before during qualifying, Austrian driver Roland Ratzenberger died at the fast Villeneuve corner. Senna took both those deaths hard, his mood changed and came to a point where he wanted to not race the following Sunday. But nevertheless, with the Austrian flag in his pocket, Senna raced the Sunday. And to top it all off, another crashed occurred early in the race. And this bad luck continued to Senna where he later crashed on turn 6 going 217km/h. He suffered several heart arrest and died later in hospital. The racing world was shock; Brazil lost their hero and another great driver left F1 forever.