Senna (2010)

You don't have to know anything about the world of Formula One racing to enjoy this biographical portrait of Ayrton Senna, the charismatic Brazilian champion who remains a national hero in his native land today, almost twenty years after his death. Senna cut such a distinctive figure, and so much film and videotape exists of his exploits, that the makers of this documentary— director Asif Kapadia, writer Manish Pandey and producer James Gay-Rees—have successfully fashioned a compelling drama out of the extant footage, painstakingly assembled from all over the world. The film provides dramatic structure to the critical period of Senna's career, when he pulled ahead of a pack of competitors to distinguish himself as a champion, despite resistance from a clubby racing establishment that considered him an outsider. Kapadia, Pandey and Gay-Rees are all Formula One enthusiasts with a fan's intuitive grasp of the sport's nuances, but they've been careful to include enough information so that a novice can understand Senna's "plot" as it unfolds. Call it "documentary exposition".

Senna was born to wealthy parents in a suburb of São Paulo in 1960. His interest in cars began in childhood. As a teenager, he raced go-karts, but at age 21 he moved to England and began driving single-seat race cars, eventually qualifying for a Formula One team in 1984. Over the next ten years, he won three World Championships and set numerous records. He also became a controversial figure, primarily for his long-running and frequently acrimonious rivalry with French driver Alain Prost. Senna and Prost had two much-debated collisions on the race track. Prost is thought to have caused one deliberately, and Senna the other.

Senna died on May 1, 1994, from a crash at the San Marino Grand Prix held in Imola, Italy. An estimated three million mourners turned out to greet his coffin when it arrived home in São Paulo.