Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Senna Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov January 21, 2012

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.

Senna Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

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 some of the added interviews with various specialists and commentators look very good, but in some areas there is banding that is rather puzzling. All in all, the main 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 playerregardless of your geographical location. For the record, there is no problematic PAL or 1080/50i content preceding the disc's main menu).

Senna Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

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 loseless 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.

Senna Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

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.

Senna Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

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.