Senna

I had hoped to watch Asif Kapadia's Senna in the theaters in support of theatrical releases for documentary films, but it's hard enough to find time to go to the theater in the first place to watch epic action films that should be viewed on a big screen, much less docs that will probably be making their way to Netflix fairly soon as Senna did.  I ended up watching it on Netflix streaming on my blu-ray player and I probably enjoyed it more that way.

Senna is the story Ayrton Senna, a Brazilian Formula One racer whose intensity and brilliance catapulted him to stardom shortly after joining F1.  Handsome and charming, the endless archival footage of Senna is captivating, and its discovery must have inspired the filmmakers to craft this beautiful and poetic story.  The film primarily focuses on Senna's racing career and the intense rivalry between him and French racer Alain Prost.  This is a great documentary and I would recommend it to anyone, doc lover or no.

I think it was the right moment for me to watch it as well, as we are currently wrapping up editorial on our documentary, Waiting for Lightning, another film about an amazing individual who also happens to be an athlete risking his life in pursuit of his passion.  But more about that in later posts.  As I was watching Senna with my fairly critical eye, I felt myself questioning some of the choices made about not showing interviewees, about the way this looked or that, and I kept thinking, I don't agree with this, but at the end of the film, I found myself deeply emotionally connected to Ayrton Senna, and I think I probably reacted just the way the filmmakers were hoping.  

I think as viewers we often second guess the creators, saying, why didn't they do this, or why didn't they do that?  Well, the truth is, sometimes they did try this or that, but it actually didn't work as well, or accomplish what they were trying to do.  I think Kapadia et al gave the archival a fairly light hand, and let it lead the story, or rather appear to, since they combed through 5,000 hours of footage to put together just the right combination, to wonderful effect.  Ayrton Senna crackles with star power on screen, so why mess with a good thing?