1143 replies to this topic

[bauss]

Just finally watching the movie now.... finally.... wanted to watch it to launch the new season.

Few comments...

Selina Scott was hot, the clip with Prost flirting is just lol
More importantly, Balestre was such a huge tool, terrible pompous douchebag... he not only disqualified Senna, but fined and gave him a suspended 6 month ban, for doing same thing other drivers had done with no punishment at all? Even Mosley will cringe at that... anyone that criticizes Senna for feeling they were very unfair towards him then is blatantly wrong. The handling of that GP was seriously unfair...ugh

Let me get back to the movie

Edited by bauss, 02 February 2012 - 20:33.

[Owen]

Just finally watching the movie now.... finally.... wanted to watch it to launch the new season.

Few comments...

Selina Scott was hot, the clip with Prost flirting is just lol
More importantly, Balestre was such a huge tool, terrible pompous douchebag... he not only disqualified Senna, but fined and gave him a suspended 6 month ban, for doing same thing other drivers had done with no punishment at all? Even Mosley will cringe at that... anyone that criticizes Senna for feeling they were very unfair towards him then is blatantly wrong. The handling of that GP was seriously unfair...ugh

Let me get back to the movie

Just watched it myself. Wow. That was some film, fitting of the great man I am relieved to say. I will even admit to becoming quite 'emotional' by the end, having been a die hard fan since 85. There was something strange that I noticed and I see others have picked it up also (see quote below from another review)

What the film really shouted at me (intentionally or unintentionally, I don’t know) was the presence of fate, destiny and Senna’s powerful religious beliefs. From the opening scene with his mother’s quote, to later in the film where Senna makes an appearance on a Brazilian Christmas talk show after his first championship win, and future girlfriend Xuxa Meneghel wishes him a “Happy New year, a Happy 1990, ’91, ’92, ’93,” kissing him after each year, but stopping before 1994...

http://community.evo...na-movie-review

I found this a bit unsettling if I'm honest!

But the humanity and the idealism of Senna shone through. What a film, but what a man, we miss him greatly.

[bauss]

Finished it.... great movie... and yeah of course I got a bit emotional at the end (probably the main reason I put off watching the movie for so long)

He was a great man, he came he saw he conquered....he lived. R.I.P.

[ashnathan]

My viewed tally has reached 26 i think i have serious problems

[D.M.N.]

BAFTA SPOILER:

Spoiler

BAFTA
#BAFTA WINNER: Editing – Senna (Gregers Sall, Chris King) bit.ly/2012BAFTA @SENNAmovie
7 minutes ago

BAFTA
#BAFTA WINNER: Outstanding British Film – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy bit.ly/2012BAFTA @tinkertailor_uk
1 minute ago

Edited by D.M.N., 12 February 2012 - 20:17.

[glorius&victorius]

One BAFTA in the bag, two more to go. I pray for an upstage.

[RC127]

Spoiler

SENNA wins Best Documentary! YES!

[Coral]

Congratulations to "Senna" on winning two BAFTAs! Thoroughly deserved!

[SB]

Congratulations to "Senna" on winning two BAFTAs! Thoroughly deserved!

Always nice to hear "Senna" winning something ~~!

[PARAZAR]

Congratulations on "Senna" winning 2 BAFTAs, even though I'm one of those who thought it was overly biased. Also, watching the red carpet, Chris Hemsworth (Thor) mentioned that he will be taking on the role of James Hunt in the F1 movie "Rush".

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1165110/

[OSX]

Congrats to the folks behind Senna (in case they happen to read this read).

It's a damn shame that the Academy left Senna out of the Oscar race.

[Owen]

Congrats to the folks behind Senna (in case they happen to read this read).

It's a damn shame that the Academy left Senna out of the Oscar race.

Yeh a strange omission by the Academy. But glad it has received some BAFTA success.

[YellowHelmet]

I have to say, that i watched it and i loved most of the parts of it.
I even have bought the DVD with extra materials.

What I dont like is the bias in this DVD, and especially the bad picture they made of Alain Prost, who hasnt deserved such a bad propaganda.
And thats why i dont think that this movie has deserved any movie awards.

It is okay for Senna fans, but for people who like to have objective movies, this movie is a failiure, and doesnt deserve any awards.

[karne]

What I dont like is the bias in this DVD, and especially the bad picture they made of Alain Prost, who hasnt deserved such a bad propaganda.

I don't get this, and I never will. I actually came out of "Senna" with a HUGE amount of respect for Alain Prost, far more than when I went in. I actually have turned into a bit of a Prost fan since watching the movie. I didn't think they did too bad a job, really. I mean, obviously neither party was perfect. Neither party was innocent, especially in the Suzuka debacle. I'd never seen the 89 footage before I saw that movie and as soon as I saw it I said out loud (no-one else in cinema), "Prost did that on purpose."

But I'll say it again: anyone who went into that movie thinking that Senna was going to be portrayed as anything other than a faint shade of grey, and Prost would be whiter than white, is just a foolish, naive idiot. The movie was made with the sanction of the Senna family and they had the ultimate say-so. They weren't going to accept anything that made Senna look like a villain. And if Senna was the good guy, Prost was the not-so-good guy.

I actually think they made Belastre out as the really evil character. (Er, not that that was hard.) Even my knows-nothing figure skating coach came out hating Belastre more than Prost. That should say something.

They acknowledged that in the end Prost became close with the family, through the foundation. I think they did a pretty good job, really.



My Dad didn't like it. He felt they left too much out.

[Showty]

Congratulations on "Senna" winning 2 BAFTAs, even though I'm one of those who thought it was overly biased. Also, watching the red carpet, Chris Hemsworth (Thor) mentioned that he will be taking on the role of James Hunt in the F1 movie "Rush".

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1165110/

Speaking of which, there might people not knowing about Rush:

A development project currently making the rounds of Hollywood studios, “Rush” tells of the 1970s F1 rivalry between the late playboy British driver James Hunt and his nemesis, Austrian champion Niki Lauda. The movie is being shopped with veteran director Ron Howard (“A Beautiful Mind,” “The Da Vinci Code”) as the filmmaker. It aims to shoot this year in Europe and could command a budget as high as $50 million.

http://latimesblogs....uda-howard.html

[aray]

congrats to Senna teams...at last some mainstream accolades...

[Rob]

Although it's great that Senna has been so well received by the general population, I'd have liked TT3D: Closer to the Edge to get a nomination as well. That was brilliant too.

[halifaxf1fan]

congrats to Senna teams...at last some mainstream accolades...

Well deserved awards.

[gerry nassar]

First set images from the Lauda/Hunt Ron Howard film Rush:

http://www.comingsoo...ws.php?id=87467

[Jejking]

I think that deserves its own thread, please ;)

[Snic]

Went to see Senna at the Waterloo IMAX last night.. Hadn't seen it before and found it incredibly immersive at IMAX, despite the video not being HD quality. My thoughts on the film echoe everyone elses, a fantastic story crisply told. Senna's silent prayer in the car just before that last race was incredibly intense, fantastic piece of work overall.
If you missed it the first time around I highly recommend seeing it on the big(gest) screen, 2 more dates left this week

[TheBunk]

Just seen it. Couldnt make anything of the Portuguese as no sub titles. Was waiting the whole movie for Berger or Ramirez to appear but no show. Weird, that. In the end I didnt thought it was an impressive movie-docu. The years I didnt watch him they only gave a very short spotlight on, and the years I did follow him, nothing new was added. Well, maybe the Stewart interview and some others wich gave me the impression he had a serious personality disorder. The last minutes were touching, but nothing like the sheer drama and shock of the hours of watching Senna fight for his life, live on tv in 1994. Anyway, rip Ayrton Senna. You are missed.

[WhatOh]

Well, maybe the Stewart interview and some others wich gave me the impression he had a serious personality disorder. The last minutes were touching, but nothing like the sheer drama and shock of the hours of watching Senna fight for his life, live on tv in 1994. Anyway, rip Ayrton Senna. You are missed.

What made you think he had a persinality disorder?

[as65p]

What made you think he had a persinality disorder?

Well, as a fan I'd say he probably had that. Disorder in the sense that he certainly didn't have a guy-next-door personality.

But there's another thing to reckon with re: the Stewart interview. The polemic kind in which Stewart asked the question was only ever provoke the reaction it did with Senna. On another occasion (not an interview) Fangio hinted something (paraphrasing, don't have the quote at hand) like Senna being a great racer but not a great sportsman, and the humble response from Senna was that he would strive to become that. Both times he was critizised but the responses couldn't have been more different. Always takes two to tango.

[aditya-now]

...Well, maybe the Stewart interview and some others wich gave me the impression he had a serious personality disorder....

Sir Jackie had a serious personality disorder?

[jj2728]

Sir Jackie had a serious personality disorder?

I think he meant Senna.

[D.M.N.]

http://www.f1fanatic...-te-senna-film/

Asked if he was happy with his depiction in the film, Prost said: “Absolutely not. No I don’t agree at all.

“I’m really, I would say, upset, in a way. I tell you why in 30 seconds. Because I spent a lot of time shooting for this. I spent many, many hours trying to explain things.

“We had one Ayrton Senna before Formula One, we had the Senna when we were fighting in Formula One and we had the Ayrton Senna when I retired

“And then comes back the human side of the story with two personalities and people would understand much more what happened when we were fighting, why he was fighting like this, and would have understood much more the last three or four months where he was calling me almost once or twice per week asking me questions, asking me to go back to the GPDA, asking questions about Williams, about safety, about personal life – very big secrets that I will never tell anoybody.

“It would have been good to have that, it was all in the rush that I have done. And at the end they wanted to do a commercial thing going to the good and the bad. I don’t care too much about being the bad boy.

“But what I care is look at that. We are here in Goodwood, we have a lot of fans, it’s history of motor racing. I would have loved to have this end of the story.

“At the end of the day all of what you can see is the human side. Otherwise you have no history, you have no tradition and that is really a big shame.”

[CSquared]

http://www.f1fanatic...-te-senna-film/

Even considering all the movie's faults, one-sidedness, and deplorable depiction of Prost, I still couldn't believe they didn't mention those last months of reconciliation and the comment on live TV, "A special hello to our dear friend, Alain. We all miss you a lot." They didn't think that was part of the story? That didn't think that would be dramatic in the movie? They didn't care. They wanted Prost to look bad, so they included footage of some stupid, totally irrelevant talk show appearance, footage of Prost picking his nose, and footage of Prost being yelled at by hoodlum fans in Brazil. Nice, professional work there, Kapadia and Pandey.

[Wander]

Even considering all the movie's faults, one-sidedness, and deplorable depiction of Prost, I still couldn't believe they didn't mention those last months of reconciliation and the comment on live TV, "A special hello to our dear friend, Alain. We all miss you a lot." They didn't think that was part of the story?

It is talked about in the long version with the interviews.

[Maustinsj]

Even considering all the movie's faults, one-sidedness, and deplorable depiction of Prost, I still couldn't believe they didn't mention those last months of reconciliation and the comment on live TV, "A special hello to our dear friend, Alain. We all miss you a lot." They didn't think that was part of the story? That didn't think that would be dramatic in the movie? They didn't care. They wanted Prost to look bad, so they included footage of some stupid, totally irrelevant talk show appearance, footage of Prost picking his nose, and footage of Prost being yelled at by hoodlum fans in Brazil. Nice, professional work there, Kapadia and Pandey.

I think you'll find that squeezing 10 years into 90 minutes means you have to choose which part of the story to tell. The director's commentary says that their first version with all of the points you raised (plus others) lasted for 5 hours! Making a movie that will appeal to anoraks & non-F1 fans alike who have no knowledge whatsoever is rather difficult with the 1.5 hour time constraint - I think the idea was to get people to look at Senna's career themselves (if they didn't know anything already).

I turned 18 the day Senna died & was just starting to get interested in the sport - the movie made me want to go back & rediscover the era I'd missed, which was probably the point.

By the way, the bunk, if you didn't have the subtitles for the Portuguese parts, you missed a great deal of explanatory dialogue & it's no wonder you were left a little bemused!

[CSquared]

I think you'll find that squeezing 10 years into 90 minutes means you have to choose which part of the story to tell. The director's commentary says that their first version with all of the points you raised (plus others) lasted for 5 hours! Making a movie that will appeal to anoraks & non-F1 fans alike who have no knowledge whatsoever is rather difficult with the 1.5 hour time constraint - I think the idea was to get people to look at Senna's career themselves (if they didn't know anything already).

Sure. So in their careful editing to concisely tell the story of the Prost-Senna rivalry, they took out the part of them becoming friends in favor of the pointless clip of Prost on a talk show. I don't buy it, dude.

[Kingshark]

Even considering all the movie's faults, one-sidedness, and deplorable depiction of Prost, I still couldn't believe they didn't mention those last months of reconciliation and the comment on live TV, "A special hello to our dear friend, Alain. We all miss you a lot." They didn't think that was part of the story? That didn't think that would be dramatic in the movie? They didn't care. They wanted Prost to look bad, so they included footage of some stupid, totally irrelevant talk show appearance, footage of Prost picking his nose, and footage of Prost being yelled at by hoodlum fans in Brazil. Nice, professional work there, Kapadia and Pandey.

Of course the film carefully chooses its parts so that Prost will look like the villain, and Senna like the hero. There were many, many moments in the rivalry where Senna would be considered the bad guy by the majority.

I’m not surprised that Prost doesn’t like the way the movie portrays him, and he has every right to be mad. He doesn’t mind being the bad guy, but the movie almost seems to have a grudge against him, and leaves an untold part in the dark. As CSquared mentioned, they didn't even include those last months of reconciliation and the comment on live TV, "A special hello to our dear friend, Alain. We all miss you a lot."

In my opinion Senna is only the good guy because of his death. His career storyline was much more emotional than Prost’s and that’s the only reason to why most people rate him higher. If Senna hadn’t died, Prost would be rightfully rated higher than him as he out-scored Senna in both seasons they drove together at Mclaren; which is often overlooked and ignored. Meh, Prost will always be the superior driver in my eyes.

[HoldenRT]

I wish there were more movies like this.. with the facts and people themselves doing the talking.. and letting you make your own mind up.

edit - After reading some of these comments, I didn't think Prost came off that bad? He's Senna's rival so it's natural that he is going to be shown in a certain light. I thought the movie DID make note of the fact that they had made up were friends and quite close before his death?

Edited by HoldenRT, 13 July 2012 - 04:05.

[HoldenRT]

It is talked about in the long version with the interviews.

I guess I saw the long version then..

[andrewr]

In my opinion Senna is only the good guy because of his death. His career storyline was much more emotional than Prost’s and that’s the only reason to why most people rate him higher. If Senna hadn’t died, Prost would be rightfully rated higher than him as he out-scored Senna in both seasons they drove together at Mclaren; which is often overlooked and ignored. Meh, Prost will always be the superior driver in my eyes.

And in my eyes too, but I think Senna was always going to be held in higher regard irrespective of his fate.

Just had another look at the talk show appearance by Prost that CSquared mentioned. The only reason I can see for putting that piece in the film is to somehow try to make him look like a sleaze.

[goldenboy]

Good movie but what they did to prost was crap. People who follow F1 like us know the truth though, and even my wife who saw it with me and knows nothing about F1 said she didn't like the movie because of how they portrayed him - she could see through the cheap current afair style angle they were taking so hopefully others did.

Funny thing is it would have made an even better movie IMO if they spent a few mins including more of the reconciliation (a joke to say they couldn't because of time restraints )

[Gareth]

After reading some of these comments, I didn't think Prost came off that bad?

That was my take too. I thought Balestre came across as the "bad guy", not Prost (albeit Prost was the beneficiary of some of the "bad guy's" actions).

[Kingshark]

That was my take too. I thought Balestre came across as the "bad guy", not Prost (albeit Prost was the beneficiary of some of the "bad guy's" actions).

I'd say that's even worse, much worse. Because Jean-Marie Balestre is dead; he now has a movie in which he is one of the main characters, and is portrayed as the villain.

[as65p]

I'd say that's even worse, much worse. Because Jean-Marie Balestre is dead; he now has a movie in which he is one of the main characters, and is portrayed as the villain.

There are dead villains, believe it or not. Not so few even put Senna in that category.

Personally I feel some sympathy towards Prost about the movie, but never about Balestre. Even taking the whole Prost/Senna affair aside, he was still the most pompous bugger imaginable.

What's funny is that reading the Prost interview above it all seemed very reminiscent of those days in the '80s/90's to me. Alain portraying himself as an innocent good bloke with nothing but best intentions, who get's screwed by others. Back then it was mainly Senna, sometimes the team(s) out to get him, now it's the evil filmmakers.

[andrewr]

Funny thing is it would have made an even better movie IMO if they spent a few mins including more of the reconciliation (a joke to say they couldn't because of time restraints )

I totally agree. The real story for me was that these two most bitter rivals in the end realised they had both been up against someone extraordinary, and ended up having enormous respect for each other. The movie was about Senna, not Prost, but it was an important aspect that was missed nonetheless.

Edited by andrewr, 13 July 2012 - 10:29.

[schubacca]

My younger brother hates Prost because of this pile of crap.

The romanticization of AS and the vilification of AP makes this movie utter tripe for me.

[Wander]

My younger brother hates Prost because of this pile of crap.

The romanticization of AS and the vilification of AP makes this movie utter tripe for me.

What if I said that I appreciate Prost more than before, because of this film. Although I did have to do further research of how **** actually went down...

[WhatOh]

What if I said that I appreciate Prost more than before, because of this film. Although I did have to do further research of how **** actually went down...

Good on you for looking deeper but the point is not many people are going to make the effort like you did. I agree with Wander. Just my tuppence though.

[Nobody]

Perhaps delving deeper into the issue may give people even more insight into the complex Senna, and of-course Prost who is one of the all time best, and gets the right recognition in more informed circles