Senna (2011)

I am ignorant of racing, especially Formula One. But “Senna,” an ESPN-produced documentary of the famed Brazilian race car driver Aryton Senna is a whooper, a heartbreaking, nail-biting tale of a man who committed and gave up his life to a sport he loved. It’s also a damnation of the vampire-like capitalists that run the sports as a business, putting profit, ticket sales and media attention above the safety of its athletes. Using home movies, TV clips, and interviews with family, friends, former rivals, and journalists, director Asif Kapadia and his crew of editors re-create the life of man who was kindly, arrogant, deeply religious, a playboy, deeply vindictive, funny, and blunt. More so, this is about a son of Brazil lifting the hopes of a desperately divided nation with every turn of the wheel. And when Senna makes his final turn in racing, and in life, the scene gut-punches with the dreadful knowledge that life can end in an instant. A-