Senna Blu-ray offers solid video and superb audio in this excellent Blu-ray release
The story of the monumental life and tragic death of legendary Brazilian motor-racing Champion, Ayrton Senna. Spanning the decade from his arrival in Formula One in the mid 80's, the film follows Senna's struggles both on track against his nemesis, French World Champion Alain Prost, and off it, against the politics which infest the sport. Sublime, spiritual yet, on occasion, ruthless - Senna conquers and transcends Formula One to become a global superstar. Privately, he is humble, almost shy, and fiercely patriotic, donating millions to his native Brasil and contemplating a life beyond motor-racing. Yet he is struck down in his prime on the blackest weekend in the history of the sport, watched live on television by 300 million people. Years on he is revered in Formula One as the greatest motor racing driver of all time - and in Brasil as a Saint.
For more about Senna and the Senna Blu-ray release, see the Senna Blu-ray Review
Winner of Best Documentary Award at the British Independent Film Awards, Asif Kapadia's "Senna" (2010) arrives on
Blu-ray courtesy of Universal Studios-UK. The supplemental features on the disc include an interview with the Brazilian
legend; additional interviews with Formula One experts and pundits; Brazilian promo piece for Senna and his philanthropic
work; and an audio commentary by producer James Gay-Rees, writer and executive producer Manish Pandey, and director
Asif Kapadia. In English and Portuguese, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.
Champion
I have mixed feelings about Asif Kapadia's first documentary film, Senna. It is powerful, direct - there are no
talking heads trying to explain events that do not need explaining – and unusually intense. But it is also disturbingly
honest, lifting a veil that has been preventing Formula One fans from seeing how corrupt and merciless the world of
Formula One racing has been for years. Watching the film I often thought that it would have been better if it was never
made so that people can remember Senna for what he was, a fierce competitor in love with racing, and continue to
respect him and the sport. The film is too good, too honest, and I have a feeling that those who see it will be gravely
disappointed to learn that the sport was always about politics rather than competing. This type of honesty hurts.
The entire film is comprised of archival news reports, interviews, and raw footage from various races. In the beginning
Senna is heard recalling his first trip to Europe in 1978 to participate in a go-carts race. He says: "It was pure driving.
Pure racing. There wasn't any politics". His voice is calm and soft, incredibly relaxed.
The next footage is from Senna's first Formula One race in Monaco. The year is 1984. He looks excited, perhaps a bit
tense. During the race, however, he is focused, surprisingly fast, ready to be a winner. Moments before he is to pass
the French champion Alain Prost, the race is stopped because supposedly the heavy rain has started causing problems.
After the race Senna looks devastated – he has realized that being the best isn't good enough to be a champion.
Soon after, Senna and Prost become teammates for McLaren. Both, however, are great competitors and the pressure to
win pushes them apart. There are bits from various interviews where the two are seen together, smiling and joking, but
it is obvious that they don't like each other. By 1988, everyone is aware they are teammates only because their
contracts require them to be.
The footage from the Japanese Grand Prix in 1988 is quite incredible. Senna beats Prost in spectacular fashion and
becomes World Champion. After the race, while Brazil celebrates, he talks about God and feeling His presence, feeling
peace, understanding what it takes to win.
It is a well known fact that Senna was a deeply religious man, but it seems to me that what he believed in the most
was winning. He loved racing and winning was simply an inseparable part of the unique relationship he had with the
sport. But it was not the prestige, the attention and the money that came with winning that he was after; it was the
peace and the pure pleasure; winning was a like a drug for him and he was seriously addicted to it.
As the film progresses, various interviews reveal how disillusioned Senna became in the early '90s. In addition to the
backroom dealings that had poisoned the sport, Williams had introduced a new car that could balance itself, each of its
four corners controlled by a smart computer. A racer driving the Williams car was virtually unbeatable. Senna felt that
racing had become an "electronic war" and driving skills no longer mattered.
On May 1, 1994, at Imola in San Marino, Senna suffered a terrible crash. Shortly after the medical helicopter left the
scene, he died. Though not a proven fact, many believe that the crash occurred because something on his car had gone
terribly wrong.
Note: The Blu-ray disc contains two versions of the film: Theatrical Version, running at approximately 106
minutes, and Extended Version (with additional interviews and racing footage), running at approximately 162 minutes.
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with VC-1 and granted a 1080p transfer, Asif Kapadia's Senna
arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Universal Studios-UK.
Senna is comprised entirely of archival news reports, interviews, and raw footage from various races. Naturally, the
quality of the material varies greatly - sometimes detail is acceptable, sometimes it is poor; clarity and contrast also
fluctuate. However, there have been no attempts to introduce post-production corrections to have the raw footage look
better than it could. On the other hand, in the Extended Version the some of the added interviews with various specialist
and commentators look very good. All in all, the different image limitations are very obviously inherited from the original
source. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your PS3 or SA regardless
of your geographical location. For the record, there is no problematic PAL or 1080/50i content preceding the disc's main
menu).
There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray disc: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (with portions of Portuguese and
French). For the record, Universal Studios-UK have provided optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature (on-screen
English subtitles, as introduced in the Theatrical Version of the film, are also available).
Antonio Pinto's wonderful music score benefits the most from the lossless treatment, and because of it the film often feels
like dream. Some of the racing footage is quite incredible to experience with the beautiful string solos. Generally speaking,
the dialog is clean, stable, and easy to follow. There are no sync issues or problematic audio dropouts to report in this
review either.
Note: All of the supplemental features are perfectly playable on North American Blu-ray machines, including the
PS3.
Interviews - a collection of long and very informative interviews with some of the talking heads
heard in the film (Richard Williams, John Bisignano, Pierre van Vliet, Reginaldo Leme, Wagner Gonzalez), who discuss
Senna's legacy and the glorious times of Formula One, when the driver, not a sophisticated computer, made the
difference in a competitive race. The French champion Alain Prost also recalls his competitive relationship with Senna. In
English and Portuguese, with optional English subtitles. (57 min, 1080p).
The Greatest Victory of All - Brazilian promo piece for Senna and his philanthropic work. In
Portuguese, with imposed English subtitles. (5 min, 480/60i).
Interview - a fascinating audio interview with Senna, conducted by Gerald Donaldson,
considered 'lost' for years. In English, with optional English subtitles. (39 min, 480/60i).
Commentary - in this audio commentary, producer James Gay-Rees, writer and executive
producer Manish Pandey, and director Asif Kapadia explain how the film came to exist, the hard work that went into
sorting out the archival footage, etc. The three gentlemen also discuss Senna's legacy, how Formula One racing has
evolved since his tragic death, etc.
Asif Kapadia's award-winning documentary film offers a fascinating look at the hyper-competitive world of Formula One
racing and the legacy of arguably its greatest star, the late Ayrton Senna. The film contains an enormous amount of
outstanding racing footage, very informative interviews, news reports, etc. Fans of the sport and the Brazilian racer cannot
afford to miss this one. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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