Review of Senna (2010) by Matt M — 25 Dec 2013

The life and times of legendary Brazilian Formula 1 driver Ayrton Senna, whose daredevilish racing antics entertained and excited the fans for years. It's also very interesting to see his obsession with fast driving and his conviction of his invincibility, particularly considering his tragic demise on the racecourse.

This documentary is exciting, fuelled by a guiding light of wanting to be as genuinely entertaining as a narrative action drama. Indeed, through archive material and creative editing, this is an exciting documentary that not only achieves its intended feat, but also comes out looking more entertaining and overall better than most of the narrative films that seek out to reproduce such a spectacle of excitement and such a faithful and human portrait completed by priceless insight into one of the most interesting and respected figures of modern sport.

The overall feeling is, hence, that Kapadia may have started a trend and made a deeply influential film that will seek not only to officially bring the documentary genre into mainstream but also rework archive footage and primary source material into something that is as action packed and engaging than those ridiculously high budget production that make use of CGI often too sporadically and end up having less than half of its impact.