Senna (M). Director: Asif Kapadia. Starring: Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost. 106 minutes
The word 'mercurial' evokes both its earthly and divine connotations when applied to the career of three time Formula One world champion Ayrton Senna.
During the decade from 1984, the enigmatic Brazilian branded the world of auto racing with his brazen ability and driving genius. He was good-looking, humble and charming, and inspired the kind of admiration and hysteria often reserved for movie stars. What's more, his unabashed public proclamations of religious faith added to his mystical aura: he was quite literally a messenger of God.
Senna is a compelling documentary of his remarkable career. It is assembled from archival footage (including televised race and interview footage, white-knuckle sequences captured by on-board cameras, and Senna family home videos), and knitted together by recollections, in voiceover, from Senna's family, journalists, and his racing nemesis and former teammate, Frenchman Alain Prost.
You do not have to be a racing afficionado to enjoy this gripping account. It is a meditation on humanity and mortality as much as it is a great sports documentary. Senna is a fascinating subject, and his story a tragedy of the highest order: his career and his life came to a sudden end on an Italian Grand Prix circuit in 1994, when he was aged just 34. This fate looms throughout the film.
Senna's faith is a central tenet of his character. Winning is not a goal but a necessity (because why compete if you do not win?), and he credits his victories to God. And although he feels his failures deeply, through the lessons learnt and progressions made from them he grows closer to God.
Prost at one point accuses him of conflating faith with indestructibility; Senna differs, affirming, ominously, that in the high-speed sport of Formula One, he is ever conscious of his own mortality.
The rivalry with Prost is tensely evoked. It, perhaps more than anything, proved to be the greatest test of Senna's character. He both won and lost world titles to Prost on the basis of technicalities. In these instances, the film posits implicit, unresolved questions regarding the apportioning of blame.
During the penultimate race of the 1989 season, in Japan, Senna crossed the finishing line first, but was disqualified after Prost, an astute politician within the sport, reported him on a technical breach; Prost walked away with the title. The following year, Senna claimed the title on a technicality following