TV-MA | 6 episodes | Drama, Biography, Sports, History | 2024
There are quite a few famous people who have been the subject of multiple biographical TV and theatrical documentaries and live-action productions. Usually, they are religious leaders, statesmen (and stateswomen), entertainers, and athletes. Some subjects receive multiple treatments (Jesus Christ, Abraham Lincoln, Elvis Presley, and Muhammad Ali, for example), while most others have just two.
The most recent examples of the latter are singer Amy Winehouse and race car driver Ayrton Senna. The documentary “Amy” was released in 2015 and went on to win a slew of awards, including an Oscar. The 2024 bio-pic feature about Winehouse (“Back to Black”) was both a critical and commercial flop.
In 2010, the documentary “Senna” was met with widespread praise and also won multiple awards. While it’s too early to say with certainty, the new six-part dramatic Netflix miniseries (also titled “Senna”) will likely receive scathing reviews and for good reason. It’s bloated, crushingly overlong, poorly executed, and, worst of all, completely unnecessary.
Stealing Thunder
Right out of the gate, miniseries directors Vincente Amorim and Julia Rezende needlessly steal their own thunder. They open the first episode with the death of Senna (Gabriel Leone) at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix in Italy. Although this event is repeated from a different perspective in a later episode, the series is tainted and spoiled from the onset.Born in 1960 in Sao Paulo, Brazil to a Spanish father (Marco Ricca as Milton) and an Italian mother (Susana Ribeiro as Neyde, changed here to Neyda), Senna was the second of three children. Milton amassed great wealth seeing investments in construction, farms, and livestock, and later owned a metallurgical company. He wanted Senna to run the company one day. His son eventually dissuaded him when Senna exhibited great athletic prowess, particularly the ability to change the gears of the family jeep without using a clutch.
By age 7, Senna began racing modified go-karts designed by Milton, much to the chagrin of Neyda, who was forever leery of the inherit danger of the sport. In 1977, Senna won the first of six consecutive “Karting World” championships. In 1984, Senna began racing Formula One cars, known to most non-racing fans as “Indy cars.”
All of the above takes place in the first episode, is handled with relative efficiency, and offers promise for the rest of the series. The start of the second episode starts dividing time between Senna’s personal and professional lives. Based simply on what is already known about him, most of this is pure fiction.
Senna is supposedly engaged to Laura (Kaya Scodelario), who grew increasingly disgruntled when they moved from Brazil to Europe at the start of his career. The Laura character is likely based on Lilian de Vasconcelos Souza, Senna’s wife from 1981 to 1982.
Name Change?
The big question is why did the filmmakers want to replace a real person with a fictional character with a different name? Usually when this happens, it’s because the written character strays so far from real life the studio changes names and circumstances to avoid possible future liability lawsuits.Senna was in long-term relationships with Brazilian TV personality Xuxa Meneghel (Pamela Tome) from 1988 to 1992 and actress Adriane Galisteu (Julia Foti) from 1993 until his 1994 death. Both of these women have key roles in the series, but only one of them (Meneghel) appears in the documentary, and it’s only for about two minutes.
This is my theory on why show runner Amorim included so much of Senna’s love life and why Kapadia did not. For the most part, sports fans (mostly male) don’t really care about athletes’ private lives, which is why Kapadia barely touched on it. Conversely, a dramatic series, especially one that is six hours long, will attract fewer viewers (mostly female) if there are no “matters of the heart” plot lines included in the mix. It’s that simple.
The one thing the series and the documentary get right is the attention devoted to Senna’s long-time professional rivalry with French racer Alain Prost (Matt Mella). It was as intense and bitter as anything we’ve seen at various points over the years in professional tennis.
The bottom line is: Don’t fix it if it’s not broken; less is more; truth is always better than fiction; and never use gallons of words to express spoonful’s of thought. The 2010 “Senna” documentary (4 1/2 stars out of 5) is available on home video and is streaming on Netflix.
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