Senna Movie

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

I read that both, especially Prost, have been made to look really bad. For this reason I will not watch it. Seeing as I was a fan of Prost it'll probably make me extremely angry.

Your loss.

Prost said the things he did without remorse. He meant it, and he cared for maximum impact in a to and fro war. He came off worst, not only in terms of results but also personally as well.
They operated differently and its the starkness of this difference that makes brilliant viewing.

That it's the greatest Formula one documentary ever made should be enough to want to see it regardless of your driver leanings.

As for FIA coming off badly...Ballestre summed up his total incompetance with "the best decision, is MY decision". Not in '89 it wasn't Jean Marie.....

[Sebp]

I read that both, especially Prost, have been made to look really bad. For this reason I will not watch it. Seeing as I was a fan of Prost it'll probably make me extremely angry.

Your loss.

this

+

I claim to have a neutral standpoint when it comes to the Prost - Senna rivalry. Having watched the movie twice now I can asure you Prost doesn't get away too badly. Unfortunately the filmmakers left out Imola '89.
Why they did it is nicely explained here: http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2011/06/02/m ... na-part-5/
The real "villain" of the film is Balestre anyway, and rightfully so, imho.

[Callum]

Maybe I was too strong to say that Prost came off in a bad light. It seemed as though they made him look scared of Senna. Highlighting the fact that in his contract with Ferrari he said that under no circumstances must he be a team-mate with Senna and interviews where he was obviously shown as the inferior race driver.

This may be true but I am too young to know if they are trying to bend the truth.

[beelsebob]

Maybe I was too strong to say that Prost came off in a bad light. It seemed as though they made him look scared of Senna. Highlighting the fact that in his contract with Ferrari he said that under no circumstances must he be a team-mate with Senna and interviews where he was obviously shown as the inferior race driver.

This may be true but I am too young to know if they are trying to bend the truth.

I too am too young – I actually started watching F1 in 94, but at adelade – to be honest, I'm glad I missed imola.

My bet is that it's as much as a bend of the truth as saying that Hamilton is a clearly faster driver than Alonso, but Alonso has better understanding of what's going on in the championship, and exactly what he needs to do.

As an aside – one thing that struck me was just how much history is repeating itself.
1 ) great F1 driver joins McLaren, is known for his calculating style
2 ) new young upstart joins with something to prove, and to a decent extent proves it, is known for his daring overtakes and winner-takes-all attitude
3 ) new young upstart gets the WDC
4 ) the two fall out massively
5 ) the original driver leaves McLaren for ferrari
6 ) adrian newey goes and designs a car with some awesome new ideas on it for another team, resulting in neither of them winning the WDC

7 ) Alonso gets fired from ferrari?
8 ) Hamilton dies?

[Sebp]

As an aside – one thing that struck me was just how much history is repeating itself.
1 ) great F1 driver joins McLaren, is known for his calculating style
2 ) new young upstart joins with something to prove, and to a decent extent proves it, is known for his daring overtakes and winner-takes-all attitude
3 ) new young upstart gets the WDC
4 ) the two fall out massively
5 ) the original driver leaves McLaren for ferrari
6 ) adrian newey goes and designs a car with some awesome new ideas on it for another team, resulting in neither of them winning the WDC

7 ) Alonso gets fired from ferrari?
8 ) Hamilton dies?

Nah don't do this!

[myurr]

Have to admit I also saw the parallels whilst watching the movie, but would also add "original F1 driver goes running off to the FIA to try and get them to intervene, massively pissing off his own team".

But let's leave 7 and 8 off the list...

[ringo]

Prost's no hypocrite in the movie.
Even though Senna died he didn't pretend that he didn't mean what he said in the past.

I don't think he was afraid of Senna. He simply saw Senna as a nuisance or distraction from focusing on his job. No driver wants a "mad man" like Senna as a teammate.
When i say mad man, ever heard the saying the most dangerous man in the world is one who believes God tells him to do something? And I am religious, so it's nothing against God.
Senna saw God appear to him; you cannot drive against a man under such a conviction and expect to have any psychological edge over him. You just can't.
He didn't win Monacoa 6 times because he was better, he won because he was possessed.
You don't want a teammate like that, the little extra talent he has over you is the least of your worries. The state of mind is the most lethal thing with this guy.

Prost made the best decision to ensure he got those 4 championships.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

I kind of get what Ringo is suggesting.

But I still thing the duel was won way before the ball hair splitting began

[Pandamasque]

Prost and the FIA came out in a bad light, what do people think about this?

I read that both, especially Prost, have been made to look really bad. For this reason I will not watch it. Seeing as I was a fan of Prost it'll probably make me extremely angry.

Yup, Prost is a bit of a villain out there. But his part is a small one. A little nuisance in the way of the great god-send prophet of Brazil.
I was never a Senna believer, and now after watching the film I clearly understand why. But I did enjoy the film quite a lot, it just a great collection of footage very well put together, albeit in a very biased manner, fortunately enough there are not much time wasted on talking heads explaining why he was so great, just period footage.

PS: there's also a priceless 'maybe it's because I'm black' moment in Senna's interview with Jackie Steward.

[Jeffsvilleusa]

Just listened to the first episode of Peter Windsor's "Flying Lap" which is all about 'Senna' and has interviews with the director and Bruno Senna, and I wasn't particularly motivated to see the movie before, but now I am- mainly because as Pandamasque says above, it's all period footage.

I think we are extremely fortunate they chose to go this route with the movie- the opportunity to butcher this movie was great- consider Antonio Banderas as Senna! But what sold me was Bruno Senna saying, 'go see this movie.' To have the family's seal of approval speaks volumes.

As far as being 'pro-Senna,' come on- can't we celebrate Senna with his warts and all? It's a movie about sport- not global politics! It's about the triumph of the human spirit, blah blah blah...

[sAx]

Prost's no hypocrite in the movie.
[...] Senna saw God appear to him; you cannot drive against a man under such a conviction and expect to have any psychological edge over him. You just can't.
He didn't win Monacoa 6 times because he was better, he won because he was possessed.

I think you have a point. The fruits of the spirit love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance [Gal 5:22-23], are their to be seen from all those who have accepted Christ as their personal saviour (and yes I am one). Senna's victory over Prost by ensuring that they would not get beyond the first corner at Suzuka 1990, showed that his spiritual journey had not reached maturity and that he indeed was not possessed with grace.

Another analogy here might be with the legendary jazz saxophonist John Coltrane, who was relentless in his pursuit of being better than phenominal. Similarly although blessed with an enourmous gift, Senna was prevented by his emotional make-up from accepting the slightest loss to any rival (re: F3 battles with Martin Brundle).

If my memory serves me well, the reason behind Senna's Monaco crash 1988, was because Prost had posted the fastest time on the previous lap and although Senna had a 52sec lead he could not concede that tiny ground and hence ended in a trip to the barriers at Portier.


sAx

[PlatinumZealot]

Maybe I was too strong to say that Prost came off in a bad light. It seemed as though they made him look scared of Senna. Highlighting the fact that in his contract with Ferrari he said that under no circumstances must he be a team-mate with Senna and interviews where he was obviously shown as the inferior race driver.

This may be true but I am too young to know if they are trying to bend the truth.

I too am too young – I actually started watching F1 in 94, but at adelade – to be honest, I'm glad I missed imola.

My bet is that it's as much as a bend of the truth as saying that Hamilton is a clearly faster driver than Alonso, but Alonso has better understanding of what's going on in the championship, and exactly what he needs to do.

As an aside – one thing that struck me was just how much history is repeating itself.
1 ) great F1 driver joins McLaren, is known for his calculating style
2 ) new young upstart joins with something to prove, and to a decent extent proves it, is known for his daring overtakes and winner-takes-all attitude
3 ) new young upstart gets the WDC
4 ) the two fall out massively
5 ) the original driver leaves McLaren for ferrari
6 ) adrian newey goes and designs a car with some awesome new ideas on it for another team, resulting in neither of them winning the WDC

7 ) Alonso gets fired from ferrari?
8 ) Hamilton dies?

Ah.. I was just waiting for someone else to come out and say it! It's almost destiny that this movie released right after the Monaco race. There are so many parallels it's not even funny. I still think Hamilton is more like Nigel Mansel in style but in conviction definitely Senna. But anyway, I know it irks people when these comparisons are done so I'll cool off for now.

[Princey]

I saw "Senna" last night and I was totally engrossed.. I thought it was amazing, emotional and sometimes slightly shocking.. it's an assault on the senses and I would say it's a must see film.

I remember Senna racing because my brother was watching F1 back then but I was quite young, I remember the day he died and my brother was just locked in his room all day.. I knew the story and have watched old clips but it was very interesting to see it all in the old footage and it is so well put together they don't seem to miss anything.. you couldn't have filmed it better if you were trying to make it into a story in the first place.

I too see the Hamilton comparisons mainly the all or nothing attitude, the stewards controversy and team mate battle. I agree that with it being released around Monaco in the UK you can't help thinking about his famous quote..

" And if you no longer go for a gap that exists, you are no longer a racing driver because we are competing, competing to win."

I would much rather a driver adopt this attitude than follow another to the flag.

[myurr]

"And if you no longer go for a gap that exists, you are no longer a racing driver because we are competing, competing to win."

I would much rather a driver adopt this attitude than follow another to the flag.

+1

[gridwalker]

I'm off to see the Movie (with producer Q&A) at the Sheffield DocFest later today : I'm really quite excited about it!!!

STUPIDLY, they've scheduled it so that the doors open at 4.10pm, which means that it will clash with quali ... you'd have thought they'd have taken their target audience into account when writing the schedule; it is a documentary festival, so it is hardly as if they'd have had to disrupt their regular schedules to give the movie a different slot.

Thank you BBC for the wonders of iPlayer