‘Senna’: Netflix series about the three-time reviled Formula 1 world champion

As we all know the ending of this story, the director Vicente Amorim (“Yakuza Princess”, “Santo”) and screenwriter Gustavo Bragança (‘Good morning, Verônica’) it’s okay to start from the beginning, not from the beginning That fateful day on May 1, 1994 when Senna crashed fatally into the Tamburello corner of the Enzo e Dino Ferrari Autodrome.. He was 34 years old. We’re soon transported back three decades to see him quickly playing around in a warm and nostalgic sepia-filtered environment. Often as fast as the winner himself, ‘Senna’ takes us forward almost a decade to 1979, when Ayrton participated in the world karting championship in Estoril.

Six years later, in 1985, Senna (aged 19-34) Gabriel Leone) would race in the same Portuguese city as a Lotus driver and achieve his first victory. Formula 1. this is low A biblical rain can confuse anyone, but not a Senna who has memorized the circuits perfectly and I realized that a straight line is often the fastest way. From the beginning, there was an attempt to blur the image of an aggressive, red-blooded pilot; This is a stereotype associated with Latinidad that some press have no problem exploiting. Not fictional journalist Laura Harrison, played by British woman (with a Brazilian mother) Kaya Scodelario (“Skins”, “The Gentlemen: series”), we see the athlete’s evolution through their eyes.

Prost-Senna fight

A year before his victory at Estoril 85, Senna had attracted attention as part of the (not so winning) Toleman team in the Monaco GP. He finished second after a controversial race that was suspended due to rain, in which he was about to overtake Alain Prost and win (Matt Mella), later his partner at McLaren (ie). The Netflix series doesn’t exactly tiptoe around the infamous rivalry of James Hunt and Niki Lauda. Ron Howard immortalized 2013 movie ‘Rush’.

The high-speed racing scenes may be reminiscent of the film, which also uses digital visual effects with almost psychotropic effects. In the second unit we find people like Cory Geryak, who works as a cinematographer in the ‘splinter unit’. ‘Le Mans ’66’. Off the track, the feeling of immersion in another reality is achieved through meticulous detail in artistic and costume design. The end credits of ‘Senna’, something of a watershed moment for the Brazilian audiovisual industry, last as long as the Marvel production or longer: up to ten minutes long.

his love life

What distinguishes the drama series ‘Senna’ from the archival documentary ‘Senna’ is the greater emphasis on the character’s private life; here a cut can move more freely than a film assembled primarily from television material. . We learn about his short-lived marriage to Lilian de Vasconcelos (Alice Wegmann) or their relationships with them television star Xuxa (Pamela Tome) and model Adriane Galisteu (who later became a cathodic figureJulia Foti). A famous livery in ‘Xou da Xuxa’ (kiss here and kiss there) has been recreated as meticulously as a handful of iconic races around the world, from Suzuka (Japan) to Monaco, passing of course São Paulo (Brazil). ) in 1991 when Senna finally triumphed at home.

Three years later it was all over. For the Austrian pilot it was April 30 Roland RatzenbergerDuring qualifying for the San Marino GP. And just a day later in a tragedy for Senna that caused the FIA ​​(Federation International Automobile) to appoint doctor Sid Watkins, a good friend of the driver (Tom Mannion), improving safety in Formula 1. More than twenty years have passed since the next death. Jules Bianchi Nine months after his crash at the 2014 Japanese GP.