Courtesy ESPN films
A scene from "Senna," a documentary about Brazilian Formula One racing champion Ayrton Senna.
Documentaries are sometimes referred to as nonfiction films. In theory, they represent the cinematic equivalent of journalism, even if they?re experimental or highly subjective ? what Tom Wolfe called ?New Journalism.? They are constructed from research, interviews and reported if disputed facts, even if they are as stylized as a graphic novel or contain staged performances and recreations.
A current trend among documentarians is to withhold even basic information. These filmmakers prefer to let their footage speak for itself, and they offer little narration or text to place the material in context. This approach can sometimes turn precious, and trap the movie in a box, to be admired primarily by the cognoscenti.
A documentary about Brazilian Formula One racing driver Ayrton Senna, who won the world championship three times. The story is told through archival footage. Senna ...
Rating: PG-13 for some strong language and disturbing images
Length: 105 minutes
Released: August 12, 2011 NY/LA
Cast: Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Frank Williams, Ron Dennis, Viviane Senna
Director: Asif Kapadia
Writer: Manish Pandey
The very fine film ?Better Than Something: Jay Reatard? (which screens Nov. 5 at the Indie Memphis Film Festival) includes lots of candid footage of the late Memphis musician, but doesn?t address the circumstances of the tragic death that caused the movie to come into being; thus, it requires uninitiated but intrigued viewers to do their own research online after seeing the movie. Maybe that?s the point.
Sometimes, however, footage is almost all you need. A model of documentary storytelling efficiency constructed entirely from vintage film and videotape, with occasional voiceover comments and onscreen text to identify the year and location, ?Senna? chronicles the career of Brazilian Formula One racing champion Ayrton Senna, killed in 1994 at the age of 34 when his car hit a wall and a suspension shaft struck his head. According to the film, this was the only injury to his body.
Directed by Asif Kapadia for ESPN Films, the movie presents Senna as a ?genius? driver (he was a three-time Formula One champion by the time he was 31) who disdained the politics and money that influenced the sport. (His privileged background afforded him the luxury of claiming he was indifferent to the cash.) In vintage interview footage, Senna longs for the ?real racing? thrill he experienced as a teenager on the go-kart circuit, and says that when he?s behind the wheel he enters a place ?beyond my conscious understanding.? After one race, he reports: ?I visualized ? I saw God.?
In economically depressed and politically turbulent Brazil, the handsome Senna quickly became a national hero and pop idol. (?Isn?t he cute?? says the Brazilian TV superstar known as Xuxa, before she tattoos the driver?s face with lipsticky kisses.)
He is contrasted throughout the film with a less likable star, his rival, Alain Prost, a calculating and possibly even devious French driver. A four-time Formula One champion, Prost was known as ?the Professor? for his political gamesmanship and his ability to exploit the Grand Prix point system in ways that would allow him to be the year?s best driver without having to go all-out in every race. It?s surprising a dramatic film hasn?t been made yet about this rivalry; I could see Gael Garc�a Bernal as either driver.
I?ll be honest: I know even less about Formula One than I do about NASCAR, which is next to nothing. But ?Senna? kept me interested for its entire running time, which is a testimony not only to this particular speed racer?s real-life story but to Kapadia?s clean sense of narrative ? and to those many, many camera operators who apparently followed Senna everywhere he went, capturing the footage that made this documentary possible.
?Senna? is exclusively at Malco?s Ridgeway Four.
? John Beifuss: 529-2394
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