What did you think of the movie now in theatres? Was it accurate and do justice to his memory? It was like a documentary with footage of him speaking during that time. I can't really say if it was accurate because I did not start following F1 closely until 2000, when Schumacher was at Ferrari. Overall, it was a good movie and I learned a lot. They showed some accidents that occurred while trying to pass on the inside of turns that probably would have resulted in a penalty today for being too aggressive. They also highlighted his mastery in the rain but concentrated on the controversy and politics of the sport that he was a victim of rather than his pure, exceptional driving ability. By today's standards, was he the best driver of all time or just the most aggressive, which sometimes brings terrific results and other times not, especially if he car is a handful?
I quite liked "Senna". I never watched him race, Schumacher was my first F1 hero. It was good to get an insight(however brief) into this great man's life and racing, which made me all the more sad, thinking what could have been, if not for that fateful day in Imola. That said, I think it was his accident that made everyone sit-up and take notice(Did anyone really care about Roland Ratzenberger's accident?) and the sport has been better off with the new safety features. The best part of the movie was about Jean-Marie Balestre. Him saying "I make the decisions. My decisions are the best decisions". It was ballsy of Senna to speak out against him. Wonder how the sport tolerated this ego maniac.
The Movie is very good, however it is made with a positive spin on Senna. He was huge in Brazil and was well known around the world... but the movie i think only shows Senna at his "best" - he did have many accidents thru the years, and he was always going for it... but sometime too much... Prost, who is kinda the villan in the movie was always smooth, where as Senna was agressive no matter what and could look quite ragged at times... especially when he was with Lotus and towards the end with McLaren. My pic for best of all time is Jackie Stewart, Jim Clark, Senna,Schumacher, Fangio,
Haven't seen the movie yet, but followed F1 throughout Senna's career. He was an obsessed man. Always needing to be the fastest. Nothing was ever good enough, even winning. The reason I think Prost was villified in the movie was that he was the only competitor who was a real challenge to Senna. Senna won 3 titles in his first 4 years at McLaren. Prost won the other and was a real challenge in the Ferrari in 1990. The 92 and 93 McLaren, the latter with Ford power, were not good enough to win the title, although Senna had 5 wins in the Ford. Prost won the title in '93 with Williams, besting Senna. Then, in '94, when Senna got off to a slow start with the best car......... Anyway, can't wait to relive some of the highlights of Senna's career other than the races.
Seen it twice. Once with the director in March, the other more recently. The Austin Grand Prix, a PR group trying to gather interest in F1 (not affiliated with COTA), filmed interviews during before and after the show. I am in it somewhere. (but really hate listening to myself talk) http://vimeo.com/29069782 Btw, I am a long time Senna fan, and have many books, magazines and cut outs from all over from back in the day. It was a great film even if it paints Senna in the sunlight. I wished there was more time to squeeze in some anecdotes about him and Prost, but it was already cut down from 6 hours!
I think it had some great moments. Like everyone there's some parts you wonder why are in with such good material left out. But I think for me, it's listening to Sid towards the end that really puts the human loss and tragedy as a documentary, and not a movie. It's probably a good start if you have a wife that follows reality TV or TV drama and doesn't understand your following of F1. Real life can be the best fiction.
The segment of the documentary covering that awful weekend at Imola was absolutely riveting, and terrifying at the same time. There easily could have been three deaths; Barichello's crash is pretty nasty.
I was fortunate to see Senna win twice at Detroit in the late 80's. The movie showed a much different side of him than what we saw as fans. All we saw was his agression and speed in all situations. The movie showed his other side, especially at Imola and how the crashes had an impact on him. Formula 1 changed that weekend. For the better with more emphasis on safety, but for the worse when all of the classic tracks were either changed with chicanes or removed from the schedule. The Williams he was in was not the best car in 1994. It was when it had the active suspension, but as you could see from the discussion that weekend with the engineers it was diabolical without it.
