Finally watched Senna last night...

Nice summary. I also truly enjoyed the documentary. The driving back then isn't like today. Much different era all around. I don't think he has a modern day equivalent.

 

I was very moved by the movie, I watched His death live on TV and had a sick feeling that day.

I've been hooked on F1 since being a 6 yrd Kid watching the 6 wheel Tyrell P34 thinking WTF is that thing, every since a fan.

Currently Racing My Lotus type 61 and loving it

Gord

 

The Senna movie was great but IMO somewhat biased. Senna was the good guy, Prost the bad. It's like his family wanted to remember him.

Senna was bullied by Balestre but Ayrton played his cards too. He was very tough and rough. Ousted Prost from of McLaren, had a win at all cost
mentality and no fear of crashing people out. Back then Senna had his critics.

In addition to his driving what sets Senna apart was the connection to his people and fans (in contrast with his on track style and antics). It was
really amazing his countrymen's reaction to his death, the funeral was something the world had never seen for a sportsman.

 

I can't read this thread too closely yet. I bought it a couple months ago with the intention of having a watching party with a few F1 faithful for the first time, but coordinating everyone's schedule is proving tough, so I'm going to watch it before this holiday weekend is over and maybe later with the group. From what I've heard, it's worth setting aside the time to be totally focused on it with no distractions, so I've been waiting for a good, relaxed weekend to take it in. That weekend is now.

 

Great movie.

I do hope that Vettel hasnt seen it recently and doesn't do a Senna to Zo's Prost.

 

Today, Villeneuve and Arnoux would have been black flagged and suspended for their 1979 duel in France.

 

I loved the film score in Senna.

 

Saw the movie last night. I too have my own opinion about Senna and the Prost-Senna sega along with other things that was mentioned or "hinted" in the movie. Without getting into it too much, I find that some of the cheap shots ( Other drivers and teams ) the movie/director took was IMO, uncalled for and grossly inaccurate. I too feel that it is definetly a movie that it is heavily pro-Senna and should not be in any way considered as an accurate docuementry.

With that said, it certainly was great to see all the footages as they brings a flood of memories back to me. It was also great to see John Bisagno once again on the screen as I certainly missed seeing him broadcasting from the pits. With Speed losing F1 coverage in the coming year, it has truly marked an end of a F1 era for me.

 

this is a great post. you have gotten to the heart of it all at the young age of 24. senna was a master. the drivers of that day were warriors. the cars were knife edged. we will never see days like that again.

thank you for your post!

pcb

 

Great, seriously great flick. It hurts my heart each time I watch it. I've seen it several times but have not viewed in months.

 

I downloaded it months ago (did I say that? Ooops) and I haven't taken the time to watch it yet but I will soon.

Being a Ferrari fan, it sucked to see him win so many races, he was truly a legend even when he was alive.

Villeneuve's story and everything I see and read about him chokes me up. I was only 9 years old but I remember how sad I was when he died and couldn't believe the news reports. I mean, as an italian living in Quebec, he was our hero and we had the best of both worlds: a local boy from our adopted country racing for Ferrari which was the pride of our homeland. His death really really sucked.

I also saw Senna's crash live but it didn't look that bad to me at the time. Maybe I was naive but watching the crash didn't lead me to believe he would die....when they announced it I was completely shocked.

I wonder if the Hans device would have saved his life? Dale Earnhardt won his Nascar Race the day Senna died and, as it turns out, he was against the Hans device and he later died because he didn't have one and that would have saved his life.

 

Unfortunately not. His helmet was penetrated (IIRC, twice) by a suspension component.

Cheers,
Ian

 

it hurts my heart too. despite knowing the outcome of the movie, i find myself hoping for one better. senna lives to win the eventual championships and retires as a the great one. sad that outcome could not be

 

I don't think anything but not crashing would have saved Senna. What killed him was one of the suspension arms piercing his helmet and head. Watson knew it was a fatal injury the moment he saw him.

 

The movie is moving, but the hatchet-job on Prost is ridiculous. The movie would have been better if it was more honest.

 

I didn't remember that....looking at the overhead footage of him directly after the crash, his helmet looks intact (he even moves it for a second) I wonder if he was in pain or just numb at that point...really terrible, I gotta watch it this weekend.

 

Cinematically speaking honesty is not a prerequisite for good art.
As an F1 fan I saw many flaws but it works well as a movie.

 

He was likely not even conscious from the moment it pierced his head. They said because he was in such good physical condition that he appeared better than most people would immediately after his accident but that it was 100% fatal at that point.

 

I finally got to see recently also... watched it about 8 times so far! It's cool to see the driver meetings...lots of familiar faces.

 

My thoughts EXACTLY.

 

Yes, Prost was really given the shaft. Prost recently said at Goodwood, that he and Senna were on speaking terms and that Senna actually told him that he was missed at the team, and were actually cordial with each other, having more or less put the past aside.
This despite telling this to the creators of the documentary who chose not to include that. But it makes for good drama in a movie. Unfortunately, a lot of "documentaries" nowadays are more docu-dramas than anything else.

 

They definitely say that in the documentary how Senna missed racing against Prost and that they became much more friendly to each other in his latest years.


There are 2 different cuts of the movie and the short one that is on netflix and other things like that is the version that most people have seen. The full version goes into so much more detail and has many more interviews with the people involved and they definitely explain their relationship much better than in the short version.


The first version of the movie that I saw was a bootleg copy of the original extended version. When I watched the shorter common version afterwards I was shocked at how much of the back story they cut out and also cut out almost all of the interviews.

The extended version has a running time of 166 minutes while the common version has only a running time of 106 minutes, a whole hour cut out, with most of it being the interviews.

 

As much as they played up the Prost rivalry, they ended the Credits with the fact that Prost does sit on the Board of Directors for Senna's Charity, which I though spoke volumes and put to rest any of the friction depicted in the film.