SENNA

One cold January evening K & I are two of just five people waiting in line at Sundance Film Festival for a Press Screening for ‘Pariah’, whilst the line next to us is heaving and bustling with far more people than the Cinema will hold.  We check our schedules to see if we have made a bad choice, and we discover that they are waiting to see a Documentary about a Formula 1 racing driver, and we sigh a relief and keep to our first choice.  Little did I know then that ‘SENNA’ would be a rather stunning and fascinating movie that I would love until I caught up with it some 9 months later when it had its theatrical release.

Asif Kapadia’s engrossing and emotional charged film tracks the short life of racing great Ayton Senna who started Go Kart racing in San Paolo his hometown at the tender age of 13, and by 17 had won the South American Kart Championship. Encouraged by his wealthy family he moved to England in 1981 to pursue his ambition to become a professional racing driver.

His amazing successes peaked when he became the youngest ever driver to win the World Championship 3 times, which made him a legend in the annals of Formula 1 Racing.

Senna had a real passion for his sport that we see from this film was equally matched by the manipulations of the highly political FISA (the Sports Governing Body) who’s French President so biasedly supported Alain Proust (a fellow French man) and Senna’s bitter rival.  I was horrified with the expose of all the behind-the-scenes manipulating of the powers-that-be that placed politics and financial gain above things like driver’s safety.  And because I live under a stone when it comes to all matters that relate to any sport, the intense animosity of the Senna’s very public spats with Proust was total news to me  …… and made such compelling viewing.

The movie also succeeded so well because of the treasure trove of archival footage of both Senna’s early years in Brazil, right up to the on-board camera in his car on the day of his fatal crash.

In 1994 driving one of the Williams Teams new hybrid cars in the San Marino Gran Prix, Senna entered a high-speed corner and crashed into a concrete wall.  He was just 34 years old.  The mystery as to the cause of death has never been resolved even to this day. Williams were investigated for a possible charge of manslaughter, which was eventually dismissed in 2007 by the Italian Court of Appeal.

What was never in question was the legacy of this dare-devil enigmatic sportsman who is still a major national hero in Brazil, and thanks to his Viviane his sister the Instituto Ayrton Senna has invested nearly $8o million over the last 12 years in social progams helping children from low-income backgrounds.

Kapadia makes Senna out as a martyr with the way he presents his (highly edited?) evidence, and maybe he was.  There is however no doubt that he was a remarkable and gifted sportsman who died way before his time, and is greatly missed by many.  Including me now after this film.   Unmissable

P.S. The line got longer for ‘Pariah’ and we got to see this brilliant coming-of-age story of a butch black highly intelligent teenage girl who struggles to reconcile being gay within the confines of her conservative middle-class home.  Due to be released in the US this winter.