Senna Movie

Went to see this this evening. It is quite brilliant and a must see. My sister who does'nt follow F1 was stunned by it. Very powerful and thought provoking. His foundation has managed to arrange for 12,000 under priviledged children to be educated in Brazil.

It's a good film, but part of what makes it attract to a non-F1 crowd leaves a sour taste for hardcore F1 fans, particularly the representation of Prost, and also misleading and erroneous use of footage.

---

X (@ed24f1)

SchueyFan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It's a good film, but part of what makes it
> attract to a non-F1 crowd leaves a sour taste for
> hardcore F1 fans, particularly the representation
> of Prost, and also misleading and erroneous use of
> footage.


Disagreed. If they'd use the footage they cut (which is included in the directors cut) then Prost looks even worse. The interviews he gave were just pure lies and he made himself out to look like a prick. Once you see the directors cut and then the movie, you think they actually put him in rather favourable light compared to what they could have done.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
theRacingLine.net
SportsCarArchives.com

Dave

Could you tell me if this is available to buy anywhere? I did'nt want to respond to this until someone said something but I felt from the movie itself was a fair reflection. Clearly, or I think, Prost was a highly skillful political operator. At the end of the day he got his 1989 championship. Schuey - perhaps I could also ask which elements of the footage you thought were misleading or indeed worse erroneous? I was myself no fan of Senna when he was driving but I think I can clearly see now that his personality and commitment were never represented properly by the BBC at the time. Its a personal view but I still think the film is well worth a view, even for die hard fans.

Quote
davidm
Clearly, or I think, Prost was a highly skillful political operator.

There's no skill in having a compatriot as a sporting leader.

His only political 'victory' came in having the foresight to block Senna's move to Williams for 1993. He showed how poor a leader he was in the late 90s.

His skills were in his driving, but not in the sense of getting the most out of the car, more getting the most out of the car without pushing it beyond what it should be capable of. He was a methodical driver, which worked against some in the day, but he would be utterly trounced today. He was quick, but in my opinion, against one of the less talented grids in the history of the sport, Senna (and Schumacher for a short period) excepted.

Could you tell me if this is available to buy anywhere?

The Blu-Ray copy is the Directors Cut Edition. The normal DVD copy is just the regular version, from the Cinema.

Honestly, in terms of a movie, the directors cut is rubbish. They cut out a lot of Prost interviews (most of which just made Prost look very poor anyway), and a lot of the ESPN guys stuff. There is nothing of value missing. Donington 93 and the incident with Eric Comas are still largely, but oddly absent. If you're majorly hardcore wanting it, then just torrent the directors cut but buy the DVD copy. But you're not missing out.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
theRacingLine.net
SportsCarArchives.com

And if you do decide to buy get it from [www.sennastore.com.br] since it is official.

mclarenaustralia Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> And if you do decide to buy get it from
> [www.sennastore.com.br]
> since it is official.


No don't. It's region locked to the US and it's Portuguese subtitles. If you don't speak Portuguese, about half the movie will be unwatchable.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
theRacingLine.net
SportsCarArchives.com

One example of the misleading footage is when the film came to Senna arguing about the pole position side at Suzuka, they showed some footage of Senna arguing with an official in a course car at the Hockenheim pit exit.

DaveEllis Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> SchueyFan Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > It's a good film, but part of what makes it
> > attract to a non-F1 crowd leaves a sour taste
> for
> > hardcore F1 fans, particularly the
> representation
> > of Prost, and also misleading and erroneous use
> of
> > footage.
>
>
> Disagreed. If they'd use the footage they cut
> (which is included in the directors cut) then
> Prost looks even worse. The interviews he gave
> were just pure lies and he made himself out to
> look like a prick. Once you see the directors cut
> and then the movie, you think they actually put
> him in rather favourable light compared to what
> they could have done.

I haven't seen the director's cut, so I can't comment on that.

My main gripe was that they could have made Suzuka 1990 more explicit. I don't think it was obvious to the general public that Senna deliberately set out to ram Prost off the road. For instance, when Senna was announced as the World Champion by the commentator after the crash, some parts of the crowd cheered. Would people have cheered if they showed footage of Adelaide 1994 and Schumacher? Suzuka 1990 is a fascinating part of his career, and even the Top Gear film on Senna analysed that better, I think. While the idolisation of Senna may have made a good film, this so-called documentary doesn't really add much in terms of new interpretations or opinions on his life.

---

X (@ed24f1)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/25/2011 09:52AM by SchueyFan.

One example of the misleading footage is when the film came to Senna arguing about the pole position side at Suzuka, they showed some footage of Senna arguing with an official in a course car at the Hockenheim pit exit.

I don't see what that has to do with how Alain Prost was represented in the movie. Or anything in fact, since we know there was an argument regarding pole positions side at Japan in 1990, there was just not footage of it. The Hockenheim footage was simply a substitute, it was not changing the facts.

As for Prosts representation, the one damning interview they kept in with him was regarding the 1989 aerial footage where you clearly see him driving into Senna with intent, and then being interviewed on it, and implying that the journalist interviewing him simply doesn't know what he's talking about. That interview alone, which was not conducting by the film makers (unlike many of the interviews which were included in the directors cut) is enough for any half informed F1 fan to create a proper opinion on Alain. The film makers didn't need to set out to make Prost look like the bad guy - interviews from over 20 years ago already did that well enough. What he did was as bad as Schumacher, but because he was a generation before most of the fourmers here, and the history books let him away with it thanks to being French, it gets forgotten.

I don't think it was obvious to the general public that Senna deliberately set out to ram Prost off the road.

I thought that was extremely obviously pointed out in the movie, especially by the inclusion of the comments by Ron Dennis afterwards regarding the accident and Sennas feelings at the time. The interview with Senna on the walk back through the pit lane immediately afterwards also showed this well.

Suzuka 1990 is a fascinating part of his career, and even the Top Gear film on Senna analysed that better, I think.

The Top Gear film, whilst awesome, missed out *everything* prior to the accident 1990, which was a massive part of why that accident happened. If anything I think the TG film marked Senna down too harshly for that accident, given it didn't mention why it'd happened. Didn't take into account the drivers meeting, the FIA actively screwing Senna, Prost being gifted the championshio the year before. When you talk about just how badly Senna got @#$%& by the system, the accident in 1990 suddenly takes on quite a different light. This was brought to the front of the movie well, but not even remarked upon by Top Gear.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
theRacingLine.net
SportsCarArchives.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/25/2011 10:03AM by DaveEllis.

Thanks for the DVD directors cut details. I'll probably buy both. Fair point also about Suzuka 1990, I in fact pointed that out to my sister after the film that he'd deliberately taken Prost out.

DaveEllis Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> One example of the misleading footage is when the
> film came to Senna arguing about the pole position
> side at Suzuka, they showed some footage of Senna
> arguing with an official in a course car at the
> Hockenheim pit exit.

I was responding to DavidM in this part of the post.

---

X (@ed24f1)