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B33Man88 t1_j5nk688 wrote

It’s a little biased against Prost and is very forgiving to Ayrton’s recklessness. A great watch none the less.

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Phil_Ivey t1_j5orm7j wrote

It's very biased against Prost. I really enjoyed this when it came out, but the more I learned about both of them, I realized what a shame it is for Prost to be so vilified.

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grawlyx t1_j5pnle9 wrote

I know absolutely nothing about F1 or any of its racers and I could tell Prost was getting assassinated

That said I do think it was the filmmakers' intention to ground the experience as if you were viewing it from Senna's perspective, so them vilifying him is a method to achieve a sense of Senna's subjectivity vs. an objective stating of facts and reality

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passporttohell t1_j5pccg6 wrote

I remember watching all of this play out back in the day, Senna was renowned for engaging in dangerous intimidating tactics against other drivers and received a lot of valid criticism for it. I agree with the unwarranted vilification of Prost, he was one of the more sensible drivers back then.

I think Senna was a remarkable driver and it's unfortunate his life ended the way it did, but in my mind there have been, and continue to be other remarkable drivers out there.

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justlookbelow t1_j5ovbxp wrote

I think it does a really good job of showing Senna's perspective. But yeah, it would be wrong to make any conclusions, having only seen that side.

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raymondcy t1_j5pzakw wrote

There are actually 2 versions of this movie. The second UK version is extended by almost an hour - 162 mins vs 106.

In that they have a far better and greater conversation with Prost specifically and it feels a lot more balanced than the shorter version. No idea why they didn't release the longer version everywhere.

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ghostmrchicken OP t1_j5q51pk wrote

I noticed this as well. There’s definitely two versions. I first saw the longer one on Netflix years ago. I re-watched this version before posting.

Parts I remember being edited out:

  1. Details about Senna’s childhood, his start in go-kart racing, how his career eventually progressed to F1 and his father’s financial support early on
  2. His marriage and divorce
  3. Perhaps most important - a rather long scene where the drivers object to racing in the rain due to the increased risk of an accident. I forget which event this was at. The drivers request a meeting with the organizers to discuss the issue. I think there are parts of Senna talking to the other drivers and I’m pretty sure Senna walks out of the meeting at one point.
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raymondcy t1_j5q7drk wrote

The longer one has an extended version of Prost's interview in the middle somewhere which provides a lot of context to the film that otherwise wasn't there. That is perhaps it's most glaring omission.

For the third point, you might be confusing that with the incident Niki Lauda had where he walks out based on exactly what you said, rain conditions. (edit: this is covered in the movie "RUSH" by Ron Howard - which possibly might be the greatest racing movie of all time).

In the Senna film (not sure which version) Senna walks out of the drivers meeting after a heated discussion about going out on the shoulder of the track by accident (there was a run off area in the chicane so if you missed the turn you didn't go into a wall). Senna was penalized for that and I think ultimately lost the championship because of that penalty. While other drivers freely got away with the whole thing as the F1 President wasn't a very big Senna supporter and personal friends with Prost. Senna walked out of that meeting - while his fellow drivers were in agreement with him.

Unbelievably, the fucking F1 actually wanted Senna to TURN AROUND and GO AGAINST TRAFFIC just to get back on the chicane.

Edit: One other fun fact, Senna excelled at racing in the rain. Him and Schumacher would run laps around the entire field when it rained. You can argue about what percentage the car wins races over a driver but when it rained those two drivers clearly proved they were exceptional drivers regardless of the cars performance.

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ghostmrchicken OP t1_j5q94lz wrote

> For the third point, you might be confusing that with the incident Niki Lauda had where he walks out based on exactly what you said, rain conditions. (edit: this is covered in the movie “RUSH” by Ron Howard - which possibly might be the greatest racing movie of all time).

Given that Senna and Rush are the only two F1 films I’ve seen I stand corrected. Funny as I was typing it out I was thinking to myself didn’t Senna like racing in the rain but I couldn’t recall the conflict so I went with what I thought it was.

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B33Man88 t1_j5qqpbs wrote

Have you seen Gran Prix? Rush is the Striptease to Gran Prix’s Showgirls

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