Documentary Review: Senna

Ayrton Senna was arguably one of the most capable and instinctive Formula 1 racing drivers since the sport began in 1950. It’s actually quite amazing that it has taken this long for someone to make such a comprehensive documentary of his life since his tragic death at the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994. Finally, with the blessing of Senna’s family, director Asif Kapadia has taken up the challenge and created a captivating piece about a spiritual yet fiercely competitive man and his love of speed. Critically acclaimed, Senna has won prizes at Sundance, the Melbourne International film festival and both the Los Angeles and Adelaide film festivals.

Mainly using televised footage of his races in the 1980’s and early 90’s, interlaced with various interviews and home videos, the narrative uses very little voice-over, allowing the images and Ayrton himself to tell his own story. What emerges is a deeply compelling look at how a young man with talent and ambition literally drove himself, and his McLaren, to the pinnacle of Formula 1 racing. Ayrton’s confidence and spirituality clearly show through in his interviews, giving insight into his compassionate personality and real desire to help his fellow poverty stricken Brazilians. Senna’s legendary rivalry with teammate Alain Prost (that later devolved into all out hostility) is also explored but not overly dramatised, as the final chapter of Ayrton’s life begins with his move to Williams-Renault in 1994 and ends with the fateful San Marino GP.

For those like me who do not follow F1 but knew of Ayrton Senna as a former driver, Senna does a wonderful job of filling in the blanks of his private life and personal torments. Completely indifferent to the complex politics of the sport, he rarely backed down when faced with the beaurocracy of the governing body. From the archival footage of Ayrton’s arguments over safety with race organisers and his genuine concern for the wellbeing of his fellow drivers, we begin to see that while passionately competitive, he was in no way a selfish achiever. A national hero in the eyes of his Brazilian compatriates, the estimated 3 million people who turned out to line the streets as his body was transported to its final resting place is a pure testament to the love and respect his countrymen had for him.

After watching the footage from the practice and qualifying sessions of the '94 San Marino GP, in which Ayrton is physically shaken by the major crashes of Rubens Barrichello and Roland Ratzenberger (who later died from his injuries), his uneasiness is almost palpable. In the past, even after similar major crashes, his personal confidence never seemed to waiver – so why this particular day does he look so strikingly apprehensive about the upcoming race? You can’t help but feel that somehow, in some tiny superconscious way, he may have felt that his time was almost up. I guess we’ll never know.

Senna is a wonderfully engaging documentary that appeals to F1 and non-racing fans alike. Although it could be considered as a 'hero-worship' piece, the way it is told through raw footage (where very little is recounted through 2nd hand accounts) gives it a level of tangible sincerity that almost all other documentaries find difficult to achieve. Senna's tragic demise definitely leaves the viewer with a lasting feeling of sadness that his time was unfairly short and that he was destined to do so much more for his fellow Brazilians after racing. But as is always the case, the candle that burns twice as bright only burns for half as long.

4 STARS

Film Review: Red Dog

Red Dog is an iconically Australian film that, through a cast of rugged yet lovable characters, tells the tale of a true Pilbara legend. Directed by Kriv Stenders (Lucky Country), this is one of only a handful of Australian films to come along since The Castle with a thoroughly endearing story that really pulls at the heartstrings, while also staying true to the spirit of the northwest.

A weary truck driver stops in at a small Dampier hotel to find a large group of locals in anguish over a sick canine. The truckie is immediately struck by how distressed they all are and begins to ask why. As they wait for the vet, one by one the patrons proudly regale their own stories of Red Dog, of how he became their friend and the symbol of iron ore country. As the anecdote's flow as freely as the beer, it becomes clear that Red Dog has touched each one of the local's lives in one way or another and is a treasured member of the community. From the story of how he met his only true master, John (Josh Lucas), to how he helped Vanno the eccentric Italian (Arthur Angel) find love, each tale is an honouring of Red Dog's legend.

There is so much to love about this film. The story is told in such a uniquely Aussie way (at a dusty pub in 1970's Dampier), the visuals of the vast red Pilbara region definitely appeal to Aussie patriotism and the quirky personalities are so easy to like. But the single device that elevates the story above all its other elements is that it's based on true events and a real life red kelpie known as Tally Ho, Bluey or simply, Red Dog. Constructed from anecdotal stories collected by Australian author Nancy Gillespie not long after Red Dog's death in 1979 and a book by British author Louis de Bernieres, the individual parables told by the film's characters are obviously dramatised but still appear to have germinated from a seed of truth. What gives this story real intensity is the hint of credibility from knowing that this was a real dog and these were real people in history.

Written by Daniel Taplitz (an American no less), the story starts out a little bit corny in its introduction of Jack the Publican (Noah Taylor) and the overly stereotypical Italian immigrant, Vanno. However, after the first 10 minutes the 'cheese' melts away and the characters begin to shine in a more authentic way. John Batchelor as Peeto and Angel as Vanno provide excellent comic relief for the more serious storyline of John and Nancy (Rachael Taylor). Thankfully, Red Dog is played by a real canine, Koko, and not animated through CGI, as is the trend in most animal based films nowadays. The classic rock soundtrack also provides an added dimension to the gritty, frontier-ish feel of 70's Dampier.

One thing that I really didn't expect as I sat watching this film was the emotional response. Not one to really get misty about such things as your everyday picture show, I most definitely welled up more than once (although it was perhaps exacerbated by the unstable older lady three rows back who literally bawled for a good 20 minutes - so I may possibly be able to blame it on some sort of sympathy tearage). Nonetheless, I can honestly say that I have not been so viscerally moved by a movie in this way since I was about 5 years old and E.T. almost died. This is when the satisfaction level for me went through the roof. A good movie will make you feel something (other than apathy). A great movie will keep you feeling that emotional high (or low) many days later just from the memory of certain scenes alone - and Red Dog certainly achieves that in spades.

Of all the Australian films to come out in the last few years, for me at least, Red Dog stands easily head and shoulders above the rest. Heartfelt and genuine, it really is a story that focuses solely on the relationships that vastly different and often lonely people forge with animals and each other when times are tough. A definite must see (but bring kleenex).

(Note: Real photos of Red Dog, his Dampier statue and his owner, John Stazzonelli, can be found at this website: http://reddogwa.com/red_dog_old_photos__sketches)

4 STARS

Film Review: Hanna

Hanna is the latest chase thriller from British director Joe Wright (The Soloist, Atonement), and showcases the burgeoning talent of the beautiful Saoirse Ronan (The Lovely Bones). However, with a strong visual style that boldly attempts to fuse frenetic action with both gritty realism and at times, a dreamy surrealism, the result is a fairytale/action mash-up that despite solid performances by Ronan, Blanchett and Bana, always feels on the brink of collapse under the weight of its own ambition.

Hanna (Saoirse Ronan) is a hardened 16 year old with an extraordinary set of skills. Raised and educated by her widowed father Erik (Eric Bana) in the frozen tundra of northern Finland, Hanna’s schooling is comprised primarily of hunting, weapons training, combat tactics and the art of war. A book of fairytales is her only escape from this strict tutelage. As they survive ‘off grid’, ex-CIA operative Erik moulds his daughter into the ultimate assassin as the time finally approaches to unleash vengeance on their unsuspecting enemies.

This film left me with such a mixed reaction. I have to admit that on first leaving the cinema, I was quite amped at what I’d just seen. There’s something exhilarating about a young girl kicking major sphincter (probably none moreso than Kick-Ass's Chloe Moretz as the deadly ‘Mindy’). But as I drove home in the car and thought back on the adventure as a whole, I had a hard time recalling any of the finer plot points other than the central narrative. And then it dawned on me. To quote John Cleese as Mr Creosote’s famous Maître d’, the story was, in the purest terms, “only waffer thin!”

On reflection, it seems that in an attempt to cram the runtime with as much action and surrealism as possible, Wright has had to trade off story and character depth in exchange. So, for a film that basically has three main characters that we actively follow, we barely even get to know two of them. Only Hanna is intimately explored on more than a superficial level and even then, particularly in the case of the family she meets and travels with, the situations were just not mined for their true potential. Blanchett, as the cold blooded CIA agent Marissa, is given very little backstory and we don’t even find out how she really fits in until about three quarters of the way through the film. I've said it before, but if we don’t know who the bad guy really is, what motivates them and most importantly, how far they are willing to go to get what they want, how can we feel that Hanna’s life is truly threatened when they interact? Ultimately, by skimming only the surface of vital characters, the director has unknowingly lowered the stakes and raised our indifference to the antagonist.

So if it had such a flimsy story, I hear you say, why so pumped at the end? Aha, I retort! Because the visual styling and Ronan’s superb acting do a 'Houdini-esque' job in masking the minimalist story. I cannot speak highly enough of Ronan – she is a real talent. And to give them credit, Blanchett and Bana also manage to squeeze a lot more out of their characters than (it appears) was written on the page. Understated as usual, Blanchett is fascinating in her coldness, which is why I am so disappointed that they didn’t use her theatrical abilities to give a more rounded exploration of her character. However, it has to be said that the blonde, East German CIA assassin in the 80’s tracksuit played by Tom Hollander (Pirates 2 & 3) was such an awful cliché that I almost wanted to get up out of my seat, fly to L.A. and slap the writer hard for penning such an awful, awful character. Thank god he was only on screen for a short time.

The other element that really helps to distract from the plotless-ness is the strength of imagery. For all its shortcomings, one thing that this film manages to do well is set a specific visual tone and follow it right through to the end. There’s a bleak, plastic-y fairytale aspect to this film that definitely made it feel fresh when compared to similar films of this genre. The type of action sequences used and the very art-house cinematic design definitely meshed with effect and again, did go some way to hide the superficial storyline.

On a final and disappointing note though, the score by the Chemical Brothers was average and rather forgettable.

So, as a cinema junkie who demands a well written and highly developed story above all other filmmaking components to truly enjoy a movie, I was ultimately let down by the flimsiness of Hanna. For a film to succeed, the screenplay must provide the solid, supporting framework on top of which the action can be stacked, without buckling. In the case of Hanna, the legs simply quivered too many times. Had they have just fleshed out the characters a little more and added an extra subplot or two, this could have really been a classic action thriller. 

However, when all is said and done, the action sequences and acting ability of Ronan/Blanchett ultimately do help to bring Hanna back up a notch toward respectability.

2 & 1/2 STARS