Senna Film Review
#16
Wider US distribution looks more likely than ever.
https://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/...ing-to-the-us/
https://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/...ing-to-the-us/
#19
Addict
Rennlist Member
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Saw it yesterday afternoon. Very good. I don't speak Spanish, Portugese or French so I did not understand about 1/3 of the dialogue. I wish it was subtitled. I knew the names but none of the stories about Prost, Senna, Ron Dennis, Frank Williams, et al. I got mixed messages from the movie about Senna. It seemed to me, not being a fan of F1 in the day, to be pretty much down the middle about him.
#20
Former Vendor
Senna was a very tough competitor. Probably the first of his breed. Schumacher was the second of that breed, but he out Senna'd Senna. Senna was a "win at all costs" type of competitor.
If you want to get a good idea of the time period, Senna Vs. Prost is a very good book!
If you want to get a good idea of the time period, Senna Vs. Prost is a very good book!
#21
King of Cool
Rennlist Member
Rennlist Member
Senna was a very tough competitor. Probably the first of his breed. Schumacher was the second of that breed, but he out Senna'd Senna. Senna was a "win at all costs" type of competitor.
If you want to get a good idea of the time period, Senna Vs. Prost is a very good book!
If you want to get a good idea of the time period, Senna Vs. Prost is a very good book!
Senna was tough all right but he certainly wasn't the 1st.
Below is just one example of a very tough competitor before Senna.
#23
Former Vendor
I didn't mean to belittle the actions of racing drivers before Senna. They were certainly good racers, legends in their own rights.
What I had meant was that racing was an all consuming endeavor for Senna. To him, it was more than doing it for fun or because he didn't want a real job. To Senna racing was the be all end all! He went to extremes for an additional place, or an additional tenth. Supposedly he would hold his breath on his quick lap in qualifying at Monaco in order to trick his body into diverting the oxygen from his extremities to his brain so he could focus better.
What I had meant was that racing was an all consuming endeavor for Senna. To him, it was more than doing it for fun or because he didn't want a real job. To Senna racing was the be all end all! He went to extremes for an additional place, or an additional tenth. Supposedly he would hold his breath on his quick lap in qualifying at Monaco in order to trick his body into diverting the oxygen from his extremities to his brain so he could focus better.
#24
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Another review.
Ayrton Senna Redrew the Rule Book for Formula One
2011-04-08 17:22:54.945 GMT
Simon Briggs
April 8 (Telegraph) -- Has there been a more traumatic event
in sport than Ayrton Senna’s skidding exit from the Tamburello
curve at Monza, and subsequent death at the age of 34? Probably
not, judging by the nose-blowing and eye-dabbing I witnessed
during a screening of the new documentary, Senna.
It is 17 years since the crash, but many of us — including a
high proportion of Formula One’s racing fraternity — have yet to
reconcile ourselves to this terrible loss.
Senna was not just the fastest driver of his generation, he
was clever and charismatic too, which is one reason why the film
works so well. As with Muhammad Ali in When We Were Kings, or
Michael Holding in the recent cricket movie Fire In Babylon, the
camera finds him irresistible.
Like most truly great performers, Senna redrew the rule book
for his sport. Until his arrival, drivers in F1 had tended to be
ultra-cautious when overtaking. On average, one driver died per
season, and the survivors had no intention of raising the
mortality rate with reckless manoeuvres.
During the 1970s, though, Jackie Stewart’s campaigning
produced a slow revolution in safety standards. The result was
that, by the time of Senna’s debut in 1984, a collision between
two cars was no longer a death sentence. Instead, it could be a
passport to a world title, as Senna and Alain Prost demonstrated
in their great battles at Suzuka.
First Prost drove into Senna at the Casino chicane, then
Senna reciprocated the following year with an audacious challenge
going into the first corner. The only difference was that Prost
made his move at 50mph, while Senna’s took place at a potentially
lethal 170mph.
The two McLaren bust-ups were a new departure for F1: the
car as weapon. And this influenced the next generation of
drivers, of whom the most ruthless was surely Michael Schumacher.
We remember not only his notorious take-out of Damon Hill, which
wrapped up the 1994 championship, but the way he squeezed Rubens
Barrichello towards a wall last season.
Among today’s young bucks, Lewis Hamilton is probably the
most aggressive in traffic, and it must feel almost as alarming
to see his yellow helmet looming up in your wing mirror as it
once was with Senna’s.
For a snapshot of F1’s changing attitudes, check out the
1990 interview in which Stewart takes a headmasterish tone with
Senna. “If I were to total up all the previous world champions,”
he says, “you have been in contact with other cars more often in
the last 36 or 48 months than all of them were in total.”
Senna is visibly annoyed. “If you no longer go for a gap
that exists,” he replies icily, “you are no longer a racing
driver.”
Is it possible, in motor racing, to be too good? Senna had
an extraordinary gift for communicating with a large hunk of
metal. Ninety-nine times out of 100, he could push it past its
apparent limit and then hold it there, clinging to the outer edge
of physics.
But there were occasions when he fell off that vertiginous
edge. Especially when handicapped by a poorly balanced Williams
with underheated tyres, as he was that day at Monza after the
safety car had come out. Then, when he hit the wall, it turned
out that the technology was not as foolproof as everyone had
imagined.
Here is Senna’s final legacy to the sport, and to his fellow
drivers.
His death provoked another overhaul of F1 machinery, and
most specifically the cockpits, which are now built up to prevent
head injuries like the one he suffered from a rogue suspension
shaft.
F1 will never be free of danger. Open-wheel cars tend to
flip each other into the air when they collide, as we saw with
Mark Webber’s take-off at Valencia last year.
And yet, judging by the fact that Senna is still the last
man to die in F1, the reforms have made the cars much more
secure. What a tragedy that it took such a terrible loss —
sport’s equivalent of a “Princess Diana” moment — for safety
standards to reach this point.
“Senna” will be released in cinemas on June 3.
-0- Apr/08/2011 17:22 GMT
Ayrton Senna Redrew the Rule Book for Formula One
2011-04-08 17:22:54.945 GMT
Simon Briggs
April 8 (Telegraph) -- Has there been a more traumatic event
in sport than Ayrton Senna’s skidding exit from the Tamburello
curve at Monza, and subsequent death at the age of 34? Probably
not, judging by the nose-blowing and eye-dabbing I witnessed
during a screening of the new documentary, Senna.
It is 17 years since the crash, but many of us — including a
high proportion of Formula One’s racing fraternity — have yet to
reconcile ourselves to this terrible loss.
Senna was not just the fastest driver of his generation, he
was clever and charismatic too, which is one reason why the film
works so well. As with Muhammad Ali in When We Were Kings, or
Michael Holding in the recent cricket movie Fire In Babylon, the
camera finds him irresistible.
Like most truly great performers, Senna redrew the rule book
for his sport. Until his arrival, drivers in F1 had tended to be
ultra-cautious when overtaking. On average, one driver died per
season, and the survivors had no intention of raising the
mortality rate with reckless manoeuvres.
During the 1970s, though, Jackie Stewart’s campaigning
produced a slow revolution in safety standards. The result was
that, by the time of Senna’s debut in 1984, a collision between
two cars was no longer a death sentence. Instead, it could be a
passport to a world title, as Senna and Alain Prost demonstrated
in their great battles at Suzuka.
First Prost drove into Senna at the Casino chicane, then
Senna reciprocated the following year with an audacious challenge
going into the first corner. The only difference was that Prost
made his move at 50mph, while Senna’s took place at a potentially
lethal 170mph.
The two McLaren bust-ups were a new departure for F1: the
car as weapon. And this influenced the next generation of
drivers, of whom the most ruthless was surely Michael Schumacher.
We remember not only his notorious take-out of Damon Hill, which
wrapped up the 1994 championship, but the way he squeezed Rubens
Barrichello towards a wall last season.
Among today’s young bucks, Lewis Hamilton is probably the
most aggressive in traffic, and it must feel almost as alarming
to see his yellow helmet looming up in your wing mirror as it
once was with Senna’s.
For a snapshot of F1’s changing attitudes, check out the
1990 interview in which Stewart takes a headmasterish tone with
Senna. “If I were to total up all the previous world champions,”
he says, “you have been in contact with other cars more often in
the last 36 or 48 months than all of them were in total.”
Senna is visibly annoyed. “If you no longer go for a gap
that exists,” he replies icily, “you are no longer a racing
driver.”
Is it possible, in motor racing, to be too good? Senna had
an extraordinary gift for communicating with a large hunk of
metal. Ninety-nine times out of 100, he could push it past its
apparent limit and then hold it there, clinging to the outer edge
of physics.
But there were occasions when he fell off that vertiginous
edge. Especially when handicapped by a poorly balanced Williams
with underheated tyres, as he was that day at Monza after the
safety car had come out. Then, when he hit the wall, it turned
out that the technology was not as foolproof as everyone had
imagined.
Here is Senna’s final legacy to the sport, and to his fellow
drivers.
His death provoked another overhaul of F1 machinery, and
most specifically the cockpits, which are now built up to prevent
head injuries like the one he suffered from a rogue suspension
shaft.
F1 will never be free of danger. Open-wheel cars tend to
flip each other into the air when they collide, as we saw with
Mark Webber’s take-off at Valencia last year.
And yet, judging by the fact that Senna is still the last
man to die in F1, the reforms have made the cars much more
secure. What a tragedy that it took such a terrible loss —
sport’s equivalent of a “Princess Diana” moment — for safety
standards to reach this point.
“Senna” will be released in cinemas on June 3.
-0- Apr/08/2011 17:22 GMT
#26
Advanced
USA distribution announcement via The Hollywood Reporter - distribution date August 12
(...and see the Hollywood Reporter on this here: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...eleased-183334)
(...and see the Hollywood Reporter on this here: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...eleased-183334)
#27
Rennlist Member
USA distribution announcement via The Hollywood Reporter - distribution date August 12
(...and see the Hollywood Reporter on this here: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...eleased-183334)
(...and see the Hollywood Reporter on this here: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...eleased-183334)
#28
I watched it last night on Netflix and it was the best racing film I have ever seen. I guess it was only available last night because it was the anniversary of his death.
#29
Three Wheelin'
I'm glad I missed out on it on Netflix. It going to be tough to wait until Aug 12, but I think that seeing this in the theater will be well worth the wait.
#30
CNN just posted a selection of clips from the movie at http://edition.cnn.com/2011/SPORT/mo...ex.html?hpt=C2